


Facing the Sun

by Happy_Ocelot



Category: Naruto
Genre: Blank Period, F/M, Naruto and Hinata grow closer after Neji's death, Post-Chapter 699 (Naruto), Post-Fourth Shinobi War, Post-The Last: Naruto the Movie, The Last: Naruto the Movie, takes place before during and after the last movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:08:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 29,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28309500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Happy_Ocelot/pseuds/Happy_Ocelot
Summary: Hinata had been watching Naruto for years. What she didn't know was that Naruto would sometimes watch her back.NaruHina. Post-War.
Relationships: Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 30
Kudos: 99





	1. Infinite Tsukuyomi

**Author's Note:**

> This is a completed story, I'm just reposting it here as a back-up...and to expand my audience.
> 
> Basically, it's about Naruto and Hinata and how their relationship developed after the war.
> 
> Please enjoy and review. :)

The moon was red.

Hinata's eyes widened in panic as the God Tree's branches wrapped around her tired, broken body. She tried to thrash about, but to her horror, her limbs were quickly becoming cottoned in a thick, papery white cocoon.

The moon was so _red_. It seemed to smile in a way that was both benevolent and wicked.

Hinata called out to the one person who could stop this, save her, save _them_.

 _Naruto-kun_.

The world faded to black.

* * *

She woke up to blinding sunlight filtering through the window. Hinata frowned and rubbed her eyes wearily.

"Nee-sama!" an impish voice yelled.

Her little sister's mischievous face loomed in her field of vision. Hinata groaned and pressed her hands to her ears.

"Nee-samaaaaa," Hanabi whined. "You're going to be late for your date with Naruto nii-san."

Hinata leapt out of bed with the speed of someone who had narrowly missed getting struck by lightning.

"Hanabi!" she scolded. "You should have woken me up earlier!"

Hanabi broke out into raucous laughter. "Just pulling your leg. It's only in the afternoon. You're fine."

She pouted at her little sister.

"You're way too easy to prank," Hanabi said. "I'm going to tell Naruto nii-san about it."

Hinata sighed. In the months since they'd begun dating, Hanabi had taken to Naruto like a moth to flame. Her gloomy, training-obsessed Hanabi had blossomed into a fireworks display under Naruto's influence. Her latent prankster was being unleashed on the world to devastating effect.

"What time is it, anyway?" Hinata asked.

"It's seven in the morning. Better get ready for breakfast, nee-sama," Hanabi said, before flouncing out of the room, her yellow ribbon accentuating her long dark hair.

* * *

Hinata scurried around her room like a chicken with its head cut off.

"Where is it, where is it?" she muttered darkly under her breath, as she turned her closet inside out.

Hanabi snickered as she held her sister's purple-and-white jacket behind her. What nee-sama didn't know wouldn't hurt her. Besides, how was Naruto nii-san going to be able to appreciate her beauty if she kept it hidden under such a boring jacket? If all went according to plan, nee-sama would be forced to attend her date with Naruto nii-san sans the jacket, Naruto nii-san's jaw would drop as he finally got a glimpse of nee-sama under a form-fitting mesh shirt, he would propose on the spot, and they would get married in two weeks, even though neither were even legal adults. Yes, Hanabi had planned this out thoroughly.

Someone behind her cleared his throat severely. Hanabi whirled around.

"Oh, Neji nii-san," she cried out with a touch of nervousness. "Funny seeing you here, huh? I thought you were with your team?"

 _Don't ruin the plan, don't ruin the plan, don't ruin the plan,_ Hanabi thought furiously.

He glared at her. "Hanabi-sama. What are you doing with Hinata-sama's jacket?"

"Oh, uh, you know, I was...um, worried that she might get heatstroke. I mean, it's ninety degrees outside, right? So that's why I took it. I mean, I'm only looking out for her health, and I know you do too, Neji nii-san!" She finished off her ramble with an incredibly unconvincing laugh.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Give it back to her now, Hanabi-sama," he said.

"No, like I said, she could get heatstroke, and then she could wind up in the hospital – "

Neji simply ripped the jacket out of Hanabi's hands and marched over to Hinata.

"Hinata-sama, I believe you were looking for this," he said kindly. He shot a nasty glare at Hanabi over his shoulder. Hanabi stuck her tongue out at him.

 _Tch, what a spoilsport_.

Yet, it did not escape her notice that Neji's concerned eyes followed nee-sama out of the compound and into the main street.

Hanabi smiled gleefully. Neji nii-san was _worried_ about nee-sama's date. She could use this.

* * *

Neji was hunkered behind a bush, eyes boring into two heads – one sunshine-blonde, the other midnight-black. Hinata-sama and Naruto, sitting together on a park bench.

"So I take it you're going to spy on them?" Hanabi asked cheerfully, falling into step beside Neji.

Neji huffed. "I'm not _spying_. As Hinata-sama's older cousin, it's merely my duty to ensure that she is happy."

"Yeah...that means you're spying, Neji nii-san," she pointed out. "Look, I'm not blaming you. I also want a piece of the action. I mean, if nee-sama marries Naruto nii-san, he'll be a part of the Hyuuga clan. And I for one can't wait. I _so_ want to start an inter-Hyuuga prank war with him."

Neji looked scandalized. He remembered all too well the horrific incident last week, an incident which he'd been trying to burn out of his brain to no avail.

It all happened when Naruto _casually_ suggested to Hanabi that the Hyuuga's Gentle Fist taijutsu might be significantly improved if they all started wearing Guy-sensei and Lee's neon green monstrosities. In Naruto's defense, he sincerely believed that wearing breathable jumpsuits might truly be effective and did not mean for it to become a prank.

Unfortunately, Hanabi took his words quite seriously as a prank idea and decided that she would need a guinea pig to test the theory out. Said guinea pig was Neji.

He'd woken up one morning somehow dressed in the hideous thing. He had no idea how Hanabi had managed to dress him in the jumpsuit without waking him up, nor did he ever want to find out.

He shuddered in revulsion and almost subconsciously rose from his hiding place, only to be quickly and irritably yanked down by Hanabi.

"What are you _doing_?" she hissed, shushing him. "You're going to blow our cover." She tapped her finger against her lips in warning.

Neji frowned at her, then glanced towards their targets, his eyes softening immediately.

Hinata-sama was leaning her head against Naruto's shoulder, her posture relaxed and content.

He supposed he could tolerate a few inter-Hyuuga prank wars.

* * *

Naruto's smile made the whole summer. Naruto's smile _was_ the whole summer.

Hinata's mind was quickly rising up from the blissful abyss.

The only memory she would have of the Infinite Tsukuyomi was Naruto's smile.


	2. A World Without Nii-san

It was a beautiful day. The sky was a clear blue with only a few wispy clouds in sight. The sun smiled cheerfully down on the world. It was perfect in every respect except for one.

"How are you, nii-san?" Hinata asked.

She arranged the vases of sunflowers in an elegant pattern around the name "Hyuuga Neji." The white stone was looking quite polished and tidy, free of any specks of dirt and grime. She supposed that was the handiwork of Lee or Tenten, or perhaps Guy-sensei.

"I had some herring soba for lunch. It was delicious. I know you would have liked it too. It was your favorite, wasn't it?"

There was no response.

It was a beautiful day. And like the ocean waves washed away the footprints on the shore, each beautiful day washed away the memory of Neji nii-san's smile and laugh. The annoyed tic bursting at his temple when Lee and Guy-sensei were being too "youthful." The frown of concentration he wore when deflecting all of the weapons that Tenten threw at him. The peaceful mornings of meditation and the cups of green tea she would share with him.

Hinata's eyes burned. She tried to smile through her blurry vision. Neji nii-san wouldn't want her to cry. He hated to see her upset. Yet the gravity of her grief wrenched the tears out from her eyes anyway.

Approaching footsteps caught her ears' attention. She turned around.

"Oh, hello, Naruto-kun," she said tonelessly. She didn't even try to hide her tears from him. She'd seen him weep with the same intensity at this spotless white grave. What was the point in hiding shared grief?

"Hi, Hinata," Naruto said in a quiet voice. He was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt with black-and-orange pants. His empty right sleeve flapped in the breeze.

He was carrying sunflowers too.

Naruto knelt down and took out some incense from his pocket. Hinata lit it with her matchstick. The pleasant smell of incense wafted into the air. There was a moment of deep silence. Neji nii-san's last moments in this world had linked her and Naruto in a way that no one else shared.

Her mind relived the events of that awful night.

" _Your life...is not only your own anymore."_

" _Because...you called me a genius."_

Nii-san's ghost of a smile as he died in Naruto's arms.

The yellow of the sunflowers in Naruto's hand seemed to wave happily at her through her watery vision.

"How did you know?" she asked.

"Hmmm?"

"Neji nii-san's favorite flower," Hinata clarified.

"Oh," he laughed, raking his fingers through his spiky blonde locks. A mischievous glint came into his eyes. "He forced me to keep it a secret. He didn't want me to tell anyone."

Hinata frowned. A secret about Neji nii-san that she didn't know? She knew _all_ of nii-san's secrets. Well, she thought she did anyway. A pang of envy towards Naruto stabbed at her chest.

"You can tell me," she said.

Naruto shook his head vigorously. "No, no. I don't want to be cursed by Neji from beyond the grave, ya know?"

"Neji nii-san would do no such thing," Hinata exclaimed doggedly. "Please tell me the secret."

"No."

"Tell me!"

"No!"

" _Naruto-kun_. Tell me now _._ "

He finally gave up. "Okay. Fine, I'll tell you. Wow, Hinata, you're really pushy and determined when you want to be, you know that?"

He turned towards the grave. "Did you see that, Neji? I'm not responsible for giving up your top secret. Hinata made me, so don't get mad and curse me, okay?"

Hinata's smile barely concealed her excitement.

He turned towards her with an exaggerated flourish. "Well, if you must know, Neji...um, he liked to talk to flowers, just like me. I caught him calling a sunflower "My sweet Himawari-chan." He was _so_ mad when he saw me standing behind him."

The mental image of Neji nii-san stroking and whispering lovingly to a sunflower was too much. Hinata burst out laughing.

"Don't laugh, Hinata! Oh no, he's definitely gonna curse me, isn't he? What if he knocks over my ramen every day _forever_?"

Hinata's stomach was seriously hurting, she was laughing so hard.

"Hinata!"

Oh no. The hiccups were starting.

"I can't believe you! You – you're laughing at my misfortune! Ghosts aren't a laughing matter!"

She gasped for breath, wiping away her tears of...sorrow? Mirth? She couldn't tell anymore.

"Naruto... _hic_ ," she started. "Naruto-kun. Neji nii-san won't curse you. He won't knock over your ramen. I know he wouldn't."

He peered at her almost shyly. "You're sure?"

"I'm sure," Hinata said firmly.

She hiccuped again.

Naruto smiled softly at her. "Well, if you're sure...then you should come to Ichiraku with me. Ramen is the best cure for hiccups."

As she followed Naruto to Ichiraku, she briefly wondered if Neji nii-san had somehow sent Naruto to her to get her to stop crying.

He really did hate to see her upset.


	3. Two Weirdos on a Mission

Hinata jumped from tree branch to tree branch, eyes roving over every corner of the forest. She zeroed in on a small clearing a tiny distance away.

"Ahem, Shino-kun, Kiba-kun, Naruto-kun, we can set up camp over there," she said.

"Gotcha," said Naruto.

The four shinobi plus Akamaru jumped down from the treetops and landed on the forest floor with a soft thump.

Shino retrieved a storage scroll from an inside pocket of his overcoat. As he unfurled it and placed a hand on the word "tent," a leaf-green canvas appeared in his arms in a puff of smoke. Trust Shino to have packed a camouflage tent for the purposes of overnight camping.

Kiba's nose twitched as he took in a whiff of westerly wind. "There's a tea stand three miles away in the direction of Konoha. We can take a break there tomorrow morning before we reach home at night."

The other members of Team 8 nodded their assent.

"Okay, now it's time for dinner!" Naruto said _far_ too loudly, almost single-handedly defeating the purpose of having a camouflage tent in the first place.

Shino and Kiba looked at him in reproach. Or at least, Kiba did. It was hard to tell with Shino due to the eternal presence of sunglasses on his face.

Naruto unfurled _his_ storage scroll with an excited sweep of his lone arm. Out popped four cups of noodles.

Kiba groaned. "Naruto, _why_ do you have to always pack ramen? You always pack rations like we're hiding out in an underground bunker."

Naruto blinked at Kiba owlishly. "Huh? Underground bunker? What are you talking about?"

"Kiba, Naruto did not pack cup ramen because it is a non-perishable food suitable for underground bunkers. He packed it because he is addicted to ramen like some people are addicted to cigarettes," Shino explained.

"For the love of – it was a figure of speech, Shino! I know he's addicted to ramen! Don't take everything so literally!"

"I'm not addicted to ramen," protested Naruto.

"Yes, you are," said Shino calmly.

"Am not!"

"Everyone, please stop arguing," Hinata broke in. "Shino-kun, we can discuss Naruto-kun's addiction later. Let's eat."

"Yeah, yeah, okay," Kiba said.

Akamaru barked in agreement. Shino gave a slight nod of his head, unclasping his satchel and rummaging around in it.

Surprisingly, Naruto made no objection when _Hinata_ called his extreme ramen love an addiction, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Hinata's teammates.

Kiba looked at Hinata and Naruto quizzically. Well, that was...strange.

Shino abruptly paused his rummaging. "Naruto, I'm afraid that we may have trouble cooking your ramen. Why? Because we have no firewood for boiling water."

Naruto laughed almost triumphantly. "Don't worry about that, Shino. Watch this!"

He made a series of one-handed signs while somehow holding onto the cup noodles. _Wait, when did he even learn how to do that?_ Kiba wondered.

"Boil Release!"

The cup ramen in Naruto's palm cooked instantly. A pleasant steamy aroma of miso ramen arose from the container.

He repeated the same process with the remaining three cups of noodles, remaining completely oblivious to Kiba's slack jaw and Shino's insects buzzing in shock.

Naruto plonked himself down on a nearby log, trying to break apart a pair of wooden chopsticks with great difficulty. _Still_ oblivious to the extreme confusion he had generated.

"Naruto, what is Boil Release?" Shino finally asked.

"It's a kekkei genkai combination of Fire Release and Water Release," Hinata said.

Her teammates whirled around in shock. Since when did _Hinata_ know about this?

"Yup," said Naruto cheerfully. "The greatest thing about it is that I don't have to wait three minutes for the noodles to cook anymore."

"At what time did you suddenly acquire a new kekkei genkai?" asked Shino again.

"Naruto-kun acquired Boil Release during the war," Hinata elaborated. "He befriended the Gobi, Kokuo, who gave him the power to heat his chakra to the boiling point."

"When did that even happen?!" Kiba almost yelled. "We were all there during the war. I didn't see you talking to the Gobi."

"This happened before you guys all showed up," said Naruto. "It was just Octopops and me – we were fighting Obito and he threw all the Edo Tensei jinchuuriki at us, and then Kakashi-sensei and Uber Brows-sensei came to help, and that's when I met all the other Tailed Beasts and became friends with them. Then we bumped fists and they gave me their powers!"

Naruto went back to clumsily trying to hold his chopsticks in his left hand, apparently under the impression that his explanation made sense.

The explanation most definitely did _not_ make any sense to Kiba and Shino, but Hinata, once again, seemed to have no problem comprehending whatever Naruto was talking about.

_What. The. Hell?_

Naruto had apparently befriended not just the Kyuubi, but _all_ of the Tailed Beasts. And he had somehow acquired an extremely rare kekkei genkai from the Gobi and was using it to...cook noodles. The world was going insane.

And Hinata was going along with all of this like it was old news. Why did she know all of this while none of their other friends did? What was Naruto telling her? Did they talk a lot?

After finishing dinner, Kiba grabbed Shino by his collar and dragged him off to the edge of the campsite.

"How long have they been like that?" Kiba asked, gesturing towards Hinata, who was trying to help Naruto hold his chopsticks properly (though he was refusing, saying that he needed to be self-reliant).

"From what I have observed, they have been interacting with great frequency over the past few months," said Shino hesitantly. "However, I was not aware of the extent of their close relationship."

"Yeah!" Kiba exclaimed. "We're supposed to be Hinata's best friends! Why didn't she tell us that she was...really close to him, or whatever they're supposed to be?"

"Kiba, I highly doubt that Hinata would ever knowingly exclude us in such a way. I suggest that we ask her tomorrow about the nature of her friendship with Naruto."

They glanced back towards the campsite.

"Good night, Naruto-kun," said Hinata. "I really need to rest now. My eyes are a bit sore from keeping my Byakugan on all day."

"Your eyes hurt? Hang on, I've got just the thing." Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated, his left hand bubbling with the crimson chakra of the Kyuubi.

He gently massaged her eyelids, easing the tension in her muscles immediately with the Kyuubi's healing power.

Hinata sighed in relief and smiled at Naruto. "Thank you so much, Naruto-kun. You're always so kind to me."

What was going _on_?

"Shino...he just massaged her eyes. Tell me I didn't imagine that," Kiba said.

"We can ask her tomorrow," Shino repeated firmly.

* * *

"Hinata, wake up."

"Mmmm...five more minutes," she mumbled.

"We have to get going soon. Please wake up."

Hinata grudgingly opened her eyelids just a sliver. Something yellow and shiny twinkled at the edge of her vision. Maybe it was gold. She smiled sleepily and reached out to grasp the object in her hand.

It felt nice and soft. Hmmm...why was the gold soft? She tugged on it a bit more.

Someone kept shaking her shoulder. She frowned and finally opened her eyes completely.

Naruto was staring down at her, smiling softly when she finally woke up.

She froze. The thing she'd sleepily grabbed wasn't gold. It was Naruto's hair.

She let go immediately.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun! I just – sorry! I was just sleeping and I didn't realize – "

Naruto didn't seem remotely bothered. "It's okay. You're up now, right? Let's get going!"

Akamaru pushed his nose into her hand and whined, urging her to move, as Hinata's teammates beheld the scene with bemusement.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata walked far ahead of the rest of their little group, with Akamaru trotting behind at a leisurely pace. Kiba and Shino brought up the rear, which was just as well with them. The incident that occurred in the morning had brought up a very inconvenient facet of Hinata: her shyness and tendency to fluster.

"I no longer think it is wise to question Hinata about her friendship with Naruto," Shino said in a low voice. "Why? Because in the six years of being her teammate, I have long since noticed that the subject of Naruto is a very sensitive one for her, and as her friends, we should not cause her any undue distress."

"Yeah, I guess," Kiba mumbled, staring at the well-worn dirt path. "I mean, she's liked Naruto since forever. She must be trying so hard to talk to him without letting her shyness get in the way."

"Yes," said Shino. "However, I must confess that I do not know why she was so comfortable with him yesterday but not today."

Kiba shrugged. "Hinata's always been a bit strange like that. One minute she becomes this super brave and strong person, and the next minute she goes back to being a wallflower. I can't figure it out."

Shino paused. "But what are Naruto's feelings regarding this subject?"

"We'd have to ask Sakura or someone else about that. We don't know him as well as his teammates do."

"Quite," agreed Shino.

They exchanged a conspiratorial look. Team 7 interrogation it was.


	4. Spy Op

As it turned out, neither Kiba nor Shino were able to get hold of Sakura until two weeks after the mission.

Kiba was held up with clan duties. The Inuzuka had lost a catastrophic number of nin-ken in the war, and plenty of others were permanently maimed, and the orphaned puppies needed constant care and attention. There was a steady flow of these duties immediately after the war, but it all came to a head when most of the clan came down with a bad flu in those two weeks, leaving Kiba to do the majority of the work.

As for Shino, he got assigned to a string of D-rank missions to neighboring villages – fetching baskets of grains, escorting merchants, painting houses, and other boring chores.

So it was with a sense of triumph and relief that both of them finally got the weekend off and set off to find Team 7's resident medic ninja.

They finally found her at a dango stand, eating a bowl of anmitsu with Ino.

Shino raised his eyebrows at the pair. "I must say that I am rather surprised to find you here, Sakura."

Sakura chewed and thickly swallowed the cube of jelly in her mouth before answering. "Just because Naruto lives at Ichiraku doesn't mean we all do. Anyway, what brings you here, Team 8?"

"Naruto himself," Shino answered.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked curiously.

"We had a mission with him a few weeks ago and it seemed like he and Hinata had something going on," said Kiba.

Ino leaned in with interest.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

As Team 8 relayed the entire sequence of events, Ino's eyebrows kept rising and rising until they practically disappeared into her blonde hair.

Sakura just shook her head. "That idiot...he's giving Hinata mixed signals by doing stuff like that."

"What do you mean, Forehead? Are they _not_ dating? I mean, look at all the signs. She knows things about him that others don't, he takes criticism from her that he doesn't take from others, _he freaking gave her an eyeball massage_."

"Naruto is too stupid to understand that Hinata has romantic feelings for him," Sakura shot back. "He's doing all those things because he thinks he's being friendly, but he doesn't understand how she might not see it that way!"

"Come on, Sakura, no one can be _that_ stupid!"

"Naruto's stupidity knows no bounds, Ino!"

"Naruto's stupid but he's not that stupid!"

" _Yes, he is,_ damn it! He's my teammate, Pig! I know what he's like!"

"So what? Are you his psychologist now, Forehead?"

" _INO._ "

" _SAKURA_."

Sparks of lightning ignited at the spot where Ino's blue eyes met Sakura's green.

Kiba shared a look of exasperation and mild fear with Shino.

"Let's settle this once and for all, Pig. Naruto is the stupidest ninja to ever exist on the planet and _I will prove it!_ "

"Bring it, Forehead!"

Why was Team 7 filled with freaks?

* * *

"I believe it was a mistake to ask Sakura about Naruto," Shino said. "Why? Because now we are all being dragged along on a bizarre mission to conduct surveillance on Naruto and Hinata's activities and I feel very uncomfortable about this prospect."

"This was _your_ idea, Shino!" Kiba yelled, getting a pair of angry glares from Sakura and Ino.

"No, Kiba. I believe _you_ were the one who said, 'We'd have to ask Sakura or someone else about that. We don't know him as well as his teammates do.'"

Kiba paused. "Oh. Right. Well, that was stupid of me."

"Indeed it was. I will be most cautious about heeding your ideas in the future."

"Will you two shut up?" Ino and Sakura hissed in unison.

"You want to find out what the hell is going on between those two or not?" Ino snarled as Sakura nodded vociferously.

What the…? They'd gone from a shouting match at a dango stand to being partners in crime. Ino and Sakura would _never_ make sense to Kiba. Shino was right. Him with his stupid big mouth and his stupid ideas...

They were all crouched in a dark alley near Naruto's apartment, waiting for the loudmouthed jinchuuriki to come outside. No such luck. It had been two hours and there was still no sign of him.

"May we take our leave? It is now almost three in the afternoon and we have been waiting for Naruto since one. I do not believe that he will appear."

"Are you guys ninja or not? How did you become a _tracking_ team if you aren't willing to wait for a little while?" Sakura asked.

"Well, maybe it would be better if you just _asked_ Naruto instead of spying on him!" Kiba snapped.

"I've asked," Sakura said darkly. "He said, and I quote, 'Do I have feelings for Hinata? Of course, you know! I have feelings for all of my friends! Life without Hinata is like ramen without broth! Oh, and so is life without Sakura-chan, and Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei, and everyone else!' I had to leave before I could actually explode."

"I still refuse to believe that he said something like that until I actually hear it with my own ears, Forehead."

"Well, today you'll get your proof."

"Shhh," said Ino excitedly. "He's coming. _Finally_."

Four heads whipped around in succession as Naruto made his way down the street, carrying a handful of sunflowers and a cloth-wrapped bento box, his posture even and balanced.

That was a massive improvement, actually. Sakura had been monitoring his medical progress during the six months since the end of the war, and in his first few weeks of being an amputee, Naruto's gait had been incredibly awkward, as his center of gravity had shifted and balancing had been very difficult.

And then there were the phantom pains. Sakura remembered with guilt the piercing, tearing, burning, invisible pains that she could do nothing to treat, because medical ninjutsu could not heal an arm that no longer existed. The mission he'd gone on with Team 8 two weeks ago was the first he'd been on since the war, for those very reasons.

He was improving drastically, for some reason.

The four impromptu "spies" jumped up onto the rooftops, following Naruto every time he took a turn or curve in the road.

He wasn't heading towards the crowded market area where Ichiraku was, nor to any of their friends' houses. He was heading towards the outskirts of Konoha, towards the...graveyard. Shino and Kiba peered ahead and saw that Hinata was there too.

There was no way that any of them could go in without grabbing Hinata or Naruto's attention, so they had to be content with watching from afar, waiting for them to come out. Unfortunately, that also meant they would have no idea what either of them might be saying.

Hinata had spotted Naruto and waved at him in greeting. For some reason, she was sitting on a picnic blanket, situated next to a gravestone. Naruto waved back, also taking a seat on the picnic blanket.

Why were they having a picnic in a graveyard?

Kiba's nose caught the scent of herring soba emanating from Naruto's bento.

...Naruto...was eating something other than ramen? What was more, he and Hinata were sharing the bento?!

Sakura's eyes widened to the size of gold coins when Kiba informed her of this astonishing fact.

"What the...what are you talking about, Kiba? Naruto _never_ eats foods other than ramen. And as far as I know, he doesn't particularly like herr – "

She broke off on detecting movement at the corner of her eye. She glanced over. Naruto was wafting incense smoke towards the bento. Then he placed the box at the foot of the grave, bowing.

After a moment of silence, Hinata also bowed, and then both of them began digging in.

The four ninja stared at the strange scene, then back at each other in bewilderment.

Kiba shrugged. "I got nothing."

"Nor do I," said Shino.

Both of them left the graveyard some time later, allowing Team 8, Ino and Sakura to enter the graveyard at last.

They quickly found the grave Hinata and Naruto had visited.

A vase of sunflowers and incense sticks stood at the foot of Neji's grave.

Ino's eyes widened in immediate understanding.

"Oh," she whispered. She and Sakura exchanged a look.

Kiba still didn't get it.

"What do you mean, 'Oh?' What's going on?"

"Is it still so difficult to understand, Kiba? Naruto and Hinata are assisting each other in coping with Neji's death," Shino explained. "That is the cause of their mutual understanding."

Kiba blinked.

"Y'know, Forehead, let's call our contest off for a while and leave 'em alone."

Sakura nodded. "Yeah."

"Dinner at Yakiniku tonight?"

"Okay." Sakura turned towards the two boys. "You guys can come too."

Shino smiled underneath the collar of his overcoat.


	5. Hunger

_Herring soba. For the past few days, she had been unable to eat anything but herring soba. The flavor was surprisingly sweet, the tender herring effortlessly complementing the delicious broth._

_Neji nii-san always had a sweet tooth, just like her._

_Herring soba. If she just ate one more bowl while meditating deeply, she could almost imagine Neji nii-san sitting next to her, enjoying it with her._

_Hinata took a sip of broth and suddenly found it difficult to swallow around the lump in her throat. What was she doing, savoring the sweetness of the soba while Neji nii-san couldn't?_

_She felt a burning self-loathing overflowing in her lungs._

_Three o'clock. Naruto always showed up at the graveyard at three o'clock. Soon it became a little routine that she began to share with him._

_Naruto listened to her story about Neji nii-san and herring soba with an uncharacteristic frown._

_Then his face brightened up into the smile that never failed to dazzle Hinata._

" _Hinata, don't worry a bit! We can fix this tomorrow. Meet me at Neji's grave at three in the afternoon and bring a picnic blanket with you!" he said in a rapid-fire voice, clenching his fist excitedly._

_What...picnic blanket…?_

_His smile sometimes didn't fail to_ confuse _Hinata as well. Nevertheless, she did bring a picnic blanket with her the next day._

_Naruto had brought a bento box with him along with his usual sunflowers._

_He took the lit incense sticks that Hinata had kept at the foot of the grave and wafted the smoke over the soba._

" _Neji, do you smell that? It's your favorite. Herring soba. Now you can eat with us."_

_Hinata's breath caught in her throat. Naruto bowed before Neji nii-san's grave._

_After a moment, she bowed too._

_As she bit into the herring and slurped the noodles, she could_ feel _Neji nii-san taking an appreciative whiff of the aroma._

_A crushing load was lifted off her chest. Neji nii-san was still with her, watching over her with his smile._

* * *

As the months went on, Hinata realized that her graveside visits with Naruto had filled an old void in her heart.

But in its place rose some kind of...greed.

Yes, that was the word for the strange desire that rose up from within her stomach. Each visit she shared with Naruto was like a soothing balm applied on the wound that Neji nii-san had left behind. But along with the soothing balm came a deep, extreme hunger.

Their visits to the grave always began at three in the afternoon and ended within the hour. After all, both Hinata and Naruto were busy ninja and the end of the war had brought many reconstruction tasks along with the resumption of their usual list of missions. The graveyard visits were the only reliable time she could meet Naruto. Missions like the one he had been on with Team 8 were few and far between.

Her mind growled unhappily at the thought. She couldn't make head or tail of it.

* * *

It was a calm and peaceful night. Aromatic green tea and the sugary grilled smell of mitarashi dango pervaded the air.

The Konoha 11 were gathered together in the village's dango shop for their first night together in a full year – the shop being the principal pick of everyone in their group other than Naruto and Chouji (whose requests for a get-together at Ichiraku and Yakiniku had been roundly shot down).

Hinata sipped at her tea and smiled calmly. The pleasant atmosphere smoothed the wrinkles in her brow and her mind.

Naruto was sitting next to Sakura and Sai. The fare at the dango shop, was, for once, something he could easily eat without the aid of others. However…

"Come on, Naruto, say 'Ahhh,'" said Sai, with his crinkled eyes and placid smile, holding a spoon loaded with gyuuhi near Naruto's mouth.

Naruto looked incredulously at the heaping spoon. "Sai, I don't need help eating anmitsu. I only have problems with chopsticks, ya know."

"But I read in a book that friends help each other even when there is no need," Sai said.

So saying, he stuffed the gyuuhi-laden spoon into Naruto's mouth.

The sight prompted her mind to glower unpleasantly.

What was this feeling? Why was she feeling this way?

Hinata fell into a fitful and restless sleep that night.

* * *

_Unlike the usual sunny days that coincided with her trips to Neji nii-san's grave, today the sky was dark and murky, the sun being blotted out by bluish-black rain clouds._

_Hinata scurried quickly to the Konoha Cemetery, occasionally pausing to glance up at the impending thunderstorm._

_She and Naruto had barely lit the incense sticks and placed the sunflowers next to the white stone when thick sheets of rain descended upon them._

_Hinata frowned. What kind of message was Neji nii-san trying to send to her? Did he not want her to visit him today?_

_The blanket of rain was causing very poor visibility. They needed to leave the cemetery fast. Hinata grasped Naruto's hand and pulled him along. They exited the graveyard and made their way into the main street of the village, darting under the awnings of the crowded shops lining Konoha's business district._

_Somehow they'd found their way to Ichiraku._

_Naruto smiled as he took in the familiar surroundings of his second home. He was completely drenched, rivulets of water rolling off his orange-and-black jacket and creating a puddle on the ground. His blonde bangs were plastered to his forehead._

_Hinata frowned in concern. "Naruto-kun, you need to dry off or you'll catch a cold."_

_Naruto gave her an exaggerated frown, looking endearingly silly. "The same goes for you too, Hinata! Besides, I've never gotten sick from getting caught in the rain."_

_But he removed his jacket anyway and used it as an impromptu towel to dry off his hair, causing it to stand on end, giving it an even spikier look than usual._

_Then he mussed up her long dark hair with the jacket. Hinata shrieked in protest._

" _Naruto-kun!"_

_Naruto smiled in a very impish manner. "Hinata, you need to dry off or you'll catch a cold!" he parroted._

_She gave him a rare stern look, causing him to shut up almost instantly._

" _Anyway, the rain isn't going to stop anytime soon. Want to order some ramen while we're here?" he asked._

_Hinata smiled. "I would love to."_

_They both settled down on the low stools facing the counter. Naruto went for his usual miso ramen with an extra helping of chashu and boiled eggs. Hinata opted for the greasy tonkotsu ramen with black pepper and naruto fishcakes._

_As they began their meal, Naruto was once again struggling to snap apart his wooden chopsticks, though he finally succeeded after thirty seconds. The sight made Hinata smile. Naruto's never-give-up attitude showed up even in the smallest of things._

_And speaking of struggle, he was struggling again, his left hand's hold on the chopsticks slack and clumsy._

_Hinata pondered the situation for a moment. She truly loved to see Naruto struggle and succeed. It was one of his greatest attributes. But today, a different feeling arose in her heart._

_Before she could identify the mysterious feeling, her hand moved on its own, grabbing the chopsticks from Naruto's hand._

" _Naruto-kun, please allow me."_

_Naruto blinked questioningly at Hinata._

" _I know you're trying hard and you're already adjusting to being one-armed, and that you don't need my help," she said quietly. "But friends help each other even when there is no need."_

_She scooped up some strands of ramen with the chopsticks and raised it to Naruto's mouth. He gratefully accepted._

_Hinata stared at his soft lips as he slurped up the noodles. There was a little drop of broth at the corner of his mouth and she felt a strange temptation to lick it off._

_She blinked at the stray thought and glanced away from his face, her eyes focusing instead on the mesh shirt that was usually concealed under his jacket. This was a big mistake. The mesh shirt was very...form-fitting. It didn't help that the shirt was clinging to his chest even more than usual thanks to the rain. He wasn't built with ripped muscles like the Raikage or anything, but he was still very..._

Hinata abruptly woke up in a cold sweat.

What on Earth was she dreaming about?


	6. The Hyuuga Compound

Unfortunately for Hinata, even if her opportunities to meet up with Naruto in places other than the graveyard were limited, he soon became a very frequent visitor in her dreams.

Most of the time, they were doing totally innocuous things: training, eating ramen, eating cinnamon rolls, visiting Neji nii-san's grave.

 _Most of the time_.

Sometimes, the dreams would enter strange and unfamiliar waters. _Sometimes_ , she would be holding his hand, or running her fingers through his blonde hair, or…other stuff. She didn't want to think about it because it was deeply mortifying.

She wondered why her dreams were taking such a bizarre turn and did her best to banish them from her waking memory. It was difficult, though, when her mind would whine unhappily every time she and Naruto parted ways.

Why was she being so greedy? The worst part was, she wasn't sure what she was even greedy for. It wasn't like Naruto wasn't spending time with her. On the contrary, they were now closer than ever.

Then what…?

* * *

"Well then, I'll see you later, Hinata!"

Naruto raised his hand in farewell. Hinata grabbed it before he could pull away.

"Naruto-kun, would you like to come visit my house?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"The Hyuuga compound," Hinata said. "I've just realized that you've never been there before."

Naruto blinked.

"Do you...not want to?" She inwardly cringed. Of course he didn't, he was probably busy and it's not like her house was interesting anyway –

"Sure!" Naruto beamed. He didn't let go of her hand. "Ya know, I've always wondered what your house might be like, I mean, I've been to some of the other clan compounds and they're all so massive, and maybe yours is too? Do you guys have a big garden?"

A slow warmth spread through her body from her head all the way down to her toes. She squeezed his hand tightly and they began to make their way out of the graveyard.

Naruto's hand was so big and warm. It was smooth and soft too, now that she thought about it. She chanced a glance at their intertwined fingers. It seemed that none of the years of ninja training and missions had shown up in his palm. She supposed that it had to do with the Kyuubi's healing powers.

Her hands, on the other hand, were as rough as sandpaper, calluses ringing her fingers – everyone in her clan had such hands, a product of their Gentle Fist fighting style. Forget her clan, almost all ninja had weather-beaten hands. But Naruto's hand was the most unique that she had ever beheld in this regard. In a way, it was almost like Naruto himself – warm, gentle, and comforting, unblemished despite life's hardships.

They had already reached the Hyuuga compound while she was musing.

Naruto looked at Hinata expectantly. She smiled and pushed open the wooden doors.

A pleasant breeze ruffled their hair. Hinata looked about as she led Naruto into the compound. It didn't seem like too many people were around today. Hardly anyone was milling around in the corridors. Maybe they were in the open courtyard in the center of the compound?

Her eight-year-old second cousin Niko smiled at Hinata, who responded with a smile of her own. Then Niko's eyes alighted upon their guest.

"Oh...my...God." Niko rushed towards Naruto at light speed. "Are you Naruto-san?!"

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Um...yeah."

Niko let out a high-pitched squeal. "You...you're like….Konoha's Number One Super Ninja! And you're here! In our house!"

She giggled and jumped up and down on the balls of her feet. "Can I call you nii-chan? Naruto nii-chan?"

"...Sure..." Naruto looked at Hinata as though waiting for an explanation. Before she could respond, Niko pounced on Naruto, grabbing his hand and pulling him along, leaving Hinata to sprint after them.

Niko wrenched open the door to her nearby room, not relinquishing her death grip on Naruto for a second.

By the time Hinata had reached the room, Naruto was sitting down on the tatami mat flooring while Niko was pulling apart her drawer in a desperate search for a mystery item. Naruto spotted her at the doorway and started gesticulating at her.

 _What's going on?_ he mouthed.

 _I don't know_ , she mouthed back. It was all so strange. Niko was usually a solemn and silent girl. Most Hyuuga did not openly show such excitement.

"Ta da!" Evidently, Niko found whatever she was looking for – apparently, a pen and paper. She bounded towards Naruto.

"Nii-chan, please, sign this for me!" She thrust the objects at Naruto, who laughed awkwardly.

"I have really bad handwriting, ya know. It's gotten worse since I can only use my left hand now, and Sakura-chan says I have to keep practicing until it doesn't look like chicken scratch anymore and – "

"I don't care, nii-chan, just sign it!" Niko yelled impatiently. She was still bouncing as though springs were attached to her feet.

Naruto finally acquiesced, scrawling his name in uneven strokes. He was right, Hinata noted. It really did look like chicken scratch. Not that Niko cared. She jumped up and down and wrapped her arms around Naruto's torso. He smiled and patted her dark brown hair, causing her to giggle and hold him tighter.

"Is it true that you defeated the Kazekage Gaara with a single punch? And that you can summon toads? And how was training with Jiraiya-sama like? And did you really convince Tsunade-sama to become the Godaime? And did you really outrun the Yondaime Raikage and beat the Sandaime Raikage and the Nidaime Tsuchikage and meet the – "

"Calm down!" Hinata chided. "Let Naruto-kun breathe a bit. He only just got here!"

Niko turned her awestruck eyes on Hinata. "Nee-sama, how do you know Naruto nii-chan? Is he your friend?"

"Yes," she said, giving a very amused Naruto a sideways glance. "We were classmates at the Ninja Academy. We've known each other since the age of five."

"You've known him for thirteen years?" Niko asked.

"Yeah," Naruto responded. "What's your name?"

"Niko. I'm your number one fan! My dad was on duty on the Island Turtle, and he told me how you and Killer B-san broke through the barrier to fight in the war!"

"Oh, yeah?" Naruto asked.

"He said that you were glowing like the sun when you activated your Kyuubi Chakra Mode. Is that true? Did you really _glow_?"

Naruto nodded, scratching his head again, though his eyes sparkled.

"That's so awesome!" she yelled, punctuating each word with a fist pump.

Naruto, finally in his element, beamed at the ecstatic child.

"You want to see?" he asked.

He flared into his Bijuu Chakra Mode – his eyes becoming slit-pupiled, magatama markings ringing his neck, and his body becoming cloaked in a warm, soothing golden chakra.

He extended one of his nine chakra tails and playfully tickled Niko's chin. She squealed in delight and tugged on the bushy tail as he wrapped it around her.

"More, nii-chan, more!"

Naruto launched a tickle attack on Niko with all nine tails. Niko became hysterical, thrashing about and flailing her limbs in delight, calming down only minutes later after he turned off the Bijuu Mode.

Niko lay still after that, clutching her sides as she wheezed. She glanced at Naruto with adoring eyes. Then she slowly rose to her feet.

"Well, see you, nee-sama, Naruto nii-chan. I have to go practice my jyuuken with Kenji now!"

She ran out of her room towards the courtyard, pausing only to wave at Hinata and Naruto.

Hinata shook her head. "That Niko...she got so excited that she forgot to lock her room door..."

They both stepped out of the room as Hinata latched it shut. Naruto was still beaming.

"That kid was really cute, you know….I wasn't expecting your clan-mates to be so...bouncy," he said.

"She usually isn't," Hinata assured. "I have no idea what came over her today. I'm sure Giichi oji-san and Tsumugi oba-san would be appalled."

"What about you?"

She shook her head, smiling.

"Anyway, would you like to see my room, Naruto-kun?" she asked.

"Yeah, lead the way, Hinata!"

They made their way to the far end of the Hyuuga compound, passing through the beautiful garden lined with peaceful ponds and large, shady trees. They finally arrived at Hinata's room, situated in the innermost corridor of the house.

Hinata turned to glance at Naruto. He flashed her a radiant smile.

She felt her heart almost stop. Being the person at whom his smiles were directed was quite an overwhelming affair.

"Wow, Hinata, your room is awesome! It's way nicer than mine!" Naruto exclaimed.

He was admiring the lavender drapes, the polished wooden flooring, the neat little dresser and cabinet...then he went right ahead and plonked down on her bed.

Hinata was internally screaming as she tried her best to keep externally calm.

She plastered a smile onto her face.

"Your house is nice, your room is nice, your clan seems to be nice. Actually, I always thought you guys were really uptight and angry all the time! Except for you, Hinata, you're perfect."

Her heart had gone from nearly stopping to doing jumping jacks.

Naruto confiding in her everything that had happened in the war.

Naruto keeping her company at nii-san's grave.

Naruto gently massaging her eyes after a long day of Byakugan use.

Naruto's soft blonde hair.

Naruto playing with Niko, drawing out laughs of delight from her sullen cousin.

Naruto's sweet smile. A smile that always saved her.

And now Naruto thought she was perfect.

It was all proving to be way too much for Hinata.

* * *

That night, Hinata was mobbed by eager clansmen. Apparently, Niko had told _everyone_ that Naruto had come over to their compound for a visit.

Who knew that gossip could pass through the Hyuuga grapevine so thoroughly? Hinata didn't even know that the clan _had_ such a huge grapevine – her shy and reserved nature meant that she never participated in the gossip and especially not if the gossip was likely to be about her. There were only so many times you could bear hearing about what a failure you were in the eyes of the Hyuuga – although her reputation in the clan had improved greatly after the Pain attack and the Fourth War.

"Hinata-sama, I heard from Niko that Naruto-san came to the compound. Can you introduce me to him next time?"

"I heard from Hotaru that you've known him since the age of ten, but Kaori says you've known him since you were five. Which is true?"

"Can you get his autograph for me, nee-sama?"

"Are you Naruto-san's best friend, Hinata-sama?"

"What's Naruto-san's blood type?"

"Does he _glow_ when he turns on his Bijuu Mode?"

"If I get him tickets to that new movie, will he be my friend?"

Not just preteen fans. There were a lot of middle-aged, seasoned shinobi in the crowd too. Since when did Naruto develop such a huge following among the Hyuuga?

Hanabi stomped her feet, forming a protective stance around her older sister.

"All of you, stop! Just stop. Nee-sama will answer your questions tomorrow. Right now, please let her sleep!"

They all grumbled but turned and filed out of Hinata's room. Hanabi slammed the door shut.

"Okay, spill, nee-sama!"

"Not you too." Hinata groaned. "Why is everyone acting so strange lately?"

"No one's acting strange, nee-sama. We all just want to know the juicy details about Konoha's Number One Super Ninja."

"Where did that nickname even come from?" Hinata asked.

"Neji nii-san's teammate – you know, the one with the massive eyebrows – "

"Lee-san," Hinata corrected.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. He and Neji nii-san's other teammate, the weapons lady – "

"Tenten-san."

"They were here for some training one day and _Lee-san_ was talking about nicknames for Konoha's Number One Super Ninja – "

"Naruto nii-san," Hinata said automatically.

Hanabi quirked her eyebrow. "Nii-san?"

Hinata's eyes widened as her brain finally caught up to her mouth.

"Well, um...he's older than you, so you should call him nii-san," she defended rather unconvincingly.

"So are _Lee-san_ and _Tenten-san_ , but you didn't ask me to call them nii-san or nee-san."

"Well...that's – "

"Whatever, nee-sama. Anyway, you should bring _Naruto nii-san_ over tomorrow. I also want to know what his blood type is..."

"B positive," Hinata blurted out, then clapped her hand over her mouth. Why was she giving Hanabi more ammunition?

Hanabi's smile became positively devilish.

Tomorrow was going to be...interesting, wasn't it?

* * *

_Niko clapped her hands and squealed in delight._

" _More, nii-chan, more!"_

_Naruto obliged, launching a furious tickle attack on the little Hyuuga child. Hinata watched the sight with a smile._

_Naruto...was really good with kids, wasn't he? Despite being an orphan, or maybe because he was an orphan._

_He turned to Hinata, and, to her surprise, he wrapped a Kurama chakra tail around her_ _and playfully tossed her into the air._

" _Naruto-kun!"_

_He let her down, smiling gently all the while._

_She didn't know what was brighter, the cloak of the Kyuubi or Naruto's smile._

_Niko faded away and the Hyuuga compound melted into a park._

_Neji nii-san and Hanabi were watching them, but how silly of them to think she wouldn't notice._

_It was a beautiful summer day and the only thing more beautiful was Naruto's smile._

_She leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes._

_She felt like a sunflower facing the sun; only the sun was Naruto's smile._

_Naruto's smile…_

" _You changed me...your smile saved me!"_

" _...Because I love you."_

…

" _I kind of like...people like you."_

" _Except for you, Hinata, you're perfect."_

Hinata woke up with a dull ache in her chest. She didn't know why.


	7. I Love You? What Does THAT Mean?

The moment Hinata brought Naruto onto the Hyuuga premises, he was accosted by Niko and every Hyuuga child under the age of fifteen.

"Nii-chan, is it true that the Kyuubi is in your stomach?" said Kaori, forcefully pressing poor Naruto's belly with her hand and probably bothering the Kyuubi.

"Nii-chan, does your stomach hurt because the Kyuubi's inside it? Is it like being pregnant?" (Whoa, _what?_ )

"Nii-chan, you have nice hair. It's so pretty and yellow."

"Nii-chan, when is your birthday?"

"Nii-chan, what's your favorite color?"

"Nii-chan, can you give me your autograph?"

Then Niko kicked off the physical attacks by jumping onto Naruto's back, wrapping her arms around his neck and tugging on his hair. It was a chain reaction. Konoha's Number One Super Ninja was no match for a mob of hyper children.

Within seconds, he was completely buried under cries of "nii-chan!"

Hinata cleared her throat. "Everyone, please calm down. What will Naruto-kun think of us if we attack him every time he visits?"

Her words had a calming, magical effect on the hyperactive kids. They backed off obediently, though a few kids muttered "Nee-sama is mean" under their breath, earning them a sharp look from Hinata.

A girl wearing an orange flame pattern kimono snickered gleefully as Naruto extricated himself from the kids. Hinata ignored her.

Naruto looked on, impressed at her authoritative demeanor. She'd done that on the mission he'd been on with Team 8 too.

 _Wow, Hinata is really great at handling people_. He shook his head at the intrusive thought. Where did that come from?

He cleared his throat. "Hinata, it's okay. I don't mind."

He smiled reassuringly at the kids. Dozens of white eyes shot him adoring looks.

Whoa, they were _way_ too much like the mobs of Academy kids who would jump him every time he was passing by the road near the school. Or the hordes of people who would beg him for autographs whenever he was shopping for ramen. He liked the villagers and all, but he didn't get why they all wanted his autographs like Niko did. He had terrible handwriting thanks to his right hand being gone. But whenever he tried to explain that to them, they looked at him like he had sprouted the horns of Six Paths Super Gramps, then went right back to asking him.

Kurama sighed in exasperation inside his mind. He'd been doing that a lot lately, but whenever Naruto had asked him why, he'd just mutter about stupid jinchuuriki and go back to sleep.

The kimono girl grinned evilly at him.

"Hello, Naruto _nii-san._ My name is Hanabi," she said. He had no idea why she was emphasizing the "nii-san" part, but before he could ask, Hinata grabbed his hand and began to lead him to her room again, with Hanabi following.

"I'm sorry about that, Naruto-kun," Hinata said when they were all safely in her room, away from the piranha children. "They've become really excitable lately."

Before he could respond, Hinata's little sister spoke up.

"Is your blood type B?" she asked.

"Yeah! How did you know?"

"Nee-sama told me," Hanabi said.

"Oh yeah! I think Hinata's blood type is A!" Naruto exclaimed. "Right, Hinata?"

"Yes..."

"Hmmm, you really do have all of the A group personality traits," Naruto mused. "You're kind, sensitive, shy, and kind of reserved, but you can be stubborn and put your foot down when things get out of hand!"

Now _Hinata_ was looking at him like he'd grown horns like Six Paths Super Gramps. Why though? Everything he said was true. Hinata was awesome!

Hanabi was looking at both of them like she knew some top secret that they didn't.

"Yep," she said in a voice that was a bizarre mixture of sadistic and sunny. "And blood type B people are supposed to be selfish, erratic, irresponsible, unpredictable, unforgiving – "

"Hanabi!" Hinata snapped. "That's not true! Don't insult Naruto-kun like that."

"But nee-sama, I'm only describing what's in all of those blood type personality things in magazines!"

"Oh, really?" Hinata said. "Then why did you leave out how B type people are also cheerful, relaxed, flexible, unpretentious, and creative?"

"Are you sure about that, nee-sama?" Hanabi teased.

"Yes," she said firmly. "Naruto-kun has the best and greatest traits of blood type B."

Naruto opened his mouth to respond, then closed it. Hinata...really believed that about him? Even their friends thought he was erratic and unpredictable...though maybe not selfish and unforgiving.

A lump formed in his throat.

Hanabi looked at both of them with an expression that could only be described as _checkmate_.

"Naruto-kun, would you like to see my flower collection?" Hinata asked, quickly steering the subject onto safer waters.

"Oh, yeah! How did you get an osmanthus anyway? They're rare in Konoha. I've been wanting some for my collection," Naruto chirped.

"Mmm, but we have many rare plants in our Hyuuga flower garden."

And just like that, it was like they were both lost in their own little world. And, Hanabi noted, neither of them even realized it.

* * *

After Naruto took his leave (after having red bean soup with cinnamon rolls for a snack – what a surprise that Hinata and Naruto both liked the same desserts), Hanabi flopped down on the bed.

"Nee-sama, I think Naruto nii-san likes you," she said.

"Of course," Hinata replied calmly. "We're friends."

"No, I mean he likes you."

Hinata frowned. "Why do you repeat yourself?"

"Wow, nee-sama, you're dense. I mean he loves you," Hanabi said, as though she was talking to a toddler.

"Yes." Now Hinata was talking to Hanabi like _she_ was the toddler. "I also love him. He's my friend. We've known each other for a long time."

"Gah!" Hanabi hid her face in her hands. "Do you need me to break this down for you into little pieces?"

Hanabi took a deep breath.

"Nee-sama. How do you feel about Naruto nii-san?"

"He's a very precious person to me. I would give my life for him without a second thought," Hinata said confidently. "He inspired my ninja way – we both never go back on our word. I would like nothing more than to walk by his side and hold his hand."

Hanabi looked nauseated.

"Okay, that's...um...very mushy...and gross. Ugh, why did I even ask?" she muttered.

She stood up and took Hinata's shoulders in her hands.

"See, you have all of these intense feelings about him, but what are you doing to act on it?" she asked. "So many people have been inspired by his ninja way, as you put it, nee-sama. And so many people would like to walk by his side and hold his hand and all those horrifying things you mentioned. Just look at all the demon children who attacked him today. But don't you want to be _special_ to him, nee-sama?"

Hinata gaped at her.

* * *

Hinata stared up at the ceiling, the room illuminated only by the cold, pale moonlight streaming in from the bedroom window.

_Don't you want to be special to him?_

Her stomach churned with unidentifiable emotions. Didn't she…?

The string of bizarre dreams plaguing her subconscious danced around in her mind.

_Naruto mussing up her rain-drenched hair. Naruto slurping up the noodles she fed him. Leaning her head on his shoulder. Basking in his smile._

She remembered that rainy night during the war a year ago.

_I will be by your side, holding your hand…walking with you! Please wait for me!_

Maybe...maybe she _did_...want to be...special to him.

* * *

Only a few miles away, Naruto also stared up at the ceiling, illuminated only by the cold, pale moonlight, streaming in from the bedroom window.

_Naruto-kun has the best and greatest traits of blood type B._

When Hinata had said that, his breath caught in his throat. He felt like he was staring directly into the sun.

Hinata always had this strange habit of dropping bombshells on him and turning his whole world upside down. And the thing was, she didn't even seem to realize it.

_In my eyes, you're a proud failure!_

_I'm not afraid to die protecting you...because I love you._

_Stand up with me, Naruto-kun. Never going back on my word is my ninja way, too._

_When I look at you, I get an intense feeling in my heart._

_She_ was getting an intense feeling in her heart? _He_ was the one who was always left feeling that way!

Kurama sighed. " _Naruto. Think very carefully about that phrase she used. You know, 'I love you.'"_

Naruto blinked in confusion. " _Yeah?"_

" _Don't you love her too?"_ Kurama asked.

" _Of course! Like I told Sakura-chan the other day, life without Hinata is like ramen without broth!"_ Naruto said.

" _Okay, just...listen. Naruto, stop with the ramen metaphors. What is_ wrong _with you?"_

" _Nothing's wrong!"_ Naruto pouted at the hulking fox in the corner of his mind. _"What's wrong with what I said? Whenever I see Hinata, I get this warm, fuzzy feeling in my heart, like when I met Old Man Teuchi for the first time ever and he let me have a free bowl of ramen."_

Kurama slammed his paw into his snout.

" _...What?"_

" _Why did I even tell Old Man Six Paths that I'd watch over you? I'm just one fox, damn it,"_ Kurama grumbled. _"I don't get paid for this insanity! Every day, ramen, ramen, ramen. Miso ramen for breakfast, shio ramen for lunch, tonkotsu ramen for dinner, and all those ramen snacks in between meals. Now you're comparing your friends to ramen!"_

" _I don't eat ramen all the time anymore!"_ Naruto protested. " _Ever since Hinata asked me to, I've been eating cherry tomatoes too!"_

Kurama sighed for what must have been the millionth time in the past year. " _You're such a stupid jinchuuriki...just...just go to sleep. I guess you'll learn about this sooner or later."_


	8. A Gentle Push

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're entering the Last movie territory now!
> 
> Disclaimer: Of course, all recognizable lines are from the movie and not mine.
> 
> But I hope you all like the missing moments scenes stuff I'll do. :)

Naruto glanced nervously at Hinata.

"You like it?" he asked. "I mean, I've had long hair since forever and now I've cut it and people keep telling me it looks funny on me."

"You look fine, Naruto-kun," Hinata said reassuringly. "It won't hang in your eyes anymore, and it's as soft as ever – "

She stopped abruptly, eyes widening like a deer in headlights. Naruto rambled on without a care in the world.

"Really? Thanks, Hinata. I'll cut my hair whatever length you like! And you look amazing with long hair too! You looked cute before, but now you're really beautiful and your hair looks so silky, ya know?"

Hinata looked like a fish flopping around on land...which is to say, completely out of her element.

They were both totally oblivious to their friends staring at them from a distance.

Tenten turned back to Team 7 and Team 8. "Are you _sure_ they're not together?"

"No, they're definitely not," said Sakura resignedly, sticking a roll of sushi into her mouth.

"Wow, you must be new to this whole thing, Tenten," Kiba said with more than a touch of irritation.

"Hinata and Naruto _should_ be in a relationship by now, but for reasons unfathomable to all of us, they are not," Shino deadpanned.

"But they've been going on about how amazing the other person is for the past hour," Tenten said incredulously. "Who even talks that way unless it's about their lover?"

"Sakura, we have to do something about this," Ino said, slamming her fist onto the table. "They've been dancing around each other for _months_. It's like they're so close, but so far at the same time. It's...it's not good for them. I'm not saying this because I want to meddle, but because I'm worried about them."

"Ino, I think we should leave them be," Shikamaru mumbled, stirring his tea with a spoon. "Let them take their own time and do what's best for themselves."

"I think Shikamaru's right," Chouji said sagely. "A meal is best when it's savored for a long time."

He had finished the entire meal within ten seconds of getting his order. Tenten gaped at him.

"I agree with Ino-san!" Lee exclaimed. "We must help Naruto-kun and Hinata-san blossom and reach the springtime of their youthful love together!"

Kiba and Shino looked horrified. Tenten looked like she was going to throw up.

"Lee...that was the creepiest springtime of youth dialogue I have ever heard in my life," she said queasily.

Lee looked confused, like he had no idea why helping friends "blossom" and "reach the springtime of youthful love" could be considered creepy.

Sakura sighed. "Okay, listen, I'll talk to Hinata about this. I think it's best if it's just me who talks to her and not everyone at once. Let's not overwhelm her."

They all stared pointedly at Lee.

"I...I understand," he said sadly.

* * *

The winter that befell Konoha that year was unusually severe. Torrents of snow coated the heads of the Hokage Monument white and draped the ground like a carpet. The sun would twinkle coldly down on the world in the daytime sky, while the moon would hang heavily in the night sky, magnified far beyond its usual size.

Hinata was just leaving a clothing store, a ball of yarn tucked safely in a bag.

Sakura spotted her almost instantly and ran towards her.

"Hinata!"

Hinata turned towards her with a smile. "Hello, Sakura-san!"

Sakura's eyes focused on the bag in Hinata's arms as she noted the store that she had just left. She couldn't help the jolt of pleasant surprise that struck her body. Maybe her self-assigned task wouldn't be so difficult after all, if Hinata was taking the initiative…

"You're knitting something? What a surprise!"

"Yes, I'm making a scarf."

 _Yes, yes, yes, go Hinata!_ a tiny, long-suppressed fragment of Inner Sakura cheered.

She looked sideways at Hinata with a knowing smile, her hand on her chin. She leaned in closer, not even bothering to conceal her happiness.

Hinata smiled awkwardly. "Wh-what are you doing?"

"Go for it, Hinata!" she said, grasping Hinata's shoulders in a very Hanabi-esque fashion.

"What?"

"It's a present for _him_ , right?"

Hinata's cheeks turned a pretty pink.

Yep, it was finally happening. Sakura grabbed Hinata's arm and dragged her away.

"S-Sakura-san? Where are we going?"

"I'm in the mood for some dango. What about you?" she asked sweetly.

"Oh...all right," Hinata said. Sakura frowned. She'd need to stamp out the hesitancy in Hinata's voice by the end of this little excursion.

Sakura led Hinata to the same cozy eatery she liked to frequent with Ino. Anmitsu with shiratama dango toppings and their special fruit jelly in this weather...Sakura's mouth watered in anticipation.

A pleasantly plump woman smiled down at Sakura as they entered the shop, the same way Teuchi would smile at Naruto.

"Oh, if it isn't Sakura-chan today! Usually I see you with Ino-chan, but you've brought in..."

She looked inquisitively at Hinata.

"Hyuuga Hinata," she said politely, bowing her head.

The lady's eyes crinkled as she smiled. "There's no need for such formalities here, Hinata-chan. Please make yourself at home."

"Can we have two anmitsu with your secret recipe, oba-san?" Sakura called out to the retreating woman's back as she and Hinata took a seat and removed their jackets.

"Coming right up!" the shop owner yelled back.

Hinata smiled. "I must say, it's a shock not seeing you at Ichiraku."

Sakura laughed. "Kiba and Shino thought the same thing, but not all of us are ramen freaks. Though I've heard that you've forced Naruto to add some variety to his diet," she said, winking.

Hinata looked puzzled. "What do you mean, Sakura-san? I haven't forced him to do anything."

"C'mon, Hinata, take some credit for yourself!" Sakura said. "He's eating vegetables just because you asked him to! Do you know how _rare_ that is? He didn't eat vegetables even when we were all genin. Kakashi-sensei had to camp out at his window every other morning to force him to! _And_ he said he'd cut his hair to whatever length you want. Do you know what happened when Ino suggested that? Nothing. He let it grow into a rat's nest. And you went and told him that you like short hair, and bingo, he keeps it short! He's doing so many things to accommodate you! Don't you see it? He's very fond of you."

Hinata just continued to stare at her in a nonplussed manner as their orders arrived.

Sakura sighed and took a bite of dango.

"Never mind. How are you doing? My life has gotten really hectic lately, running things for Tsunade-shishou at the hospital."

"Things are going very well for me," Hinata said happily. "I've been getting some very high-paying missions and I'm helping my little sister with her jyuuken training..."

"Sometimes I wish I had a sibling," said Sakura with a touch of envy. "What's it like to be a big sister?"

"Oh, well, it's a big responsibility. You always have to look out for your little sister and protect her. And you have to do your best to put up with her teasing and pranks. And she never listens to you when you tell her not to do foolish things..."

Sakura burst out laughing.

"Hmmm, what's the matter, Sakura-san?"

"It's nothing," Sakura said, shaking her head. "It's just...I think that I know what you're talking about after all."

"You do?" asked Hinata.

"Yep." Sakura leaned in closer. "And I know just how to deal with people like that: be forward and blunt."

Hinata tilted her head sideways at Sakura like a confused kitten.

"I'm afraid I don't know whom you're speaking of, Sakura-san," she said.

"Hinata, I swear you're just as oblivious as he is! I'm talking about Naruto!" Sakura fixed Hinata with an intent look. "The best way to deal with a knucklehead like him is to beat things into his head so that he learns whatever lesson you want to teach him."

"Are – are you sure of that?" Hinata asked quietly.

Sakura nodded.

"Just _make sure_ he gets the message, no matter what. And _don't_ let him divert the conversation to ramen," she said, shuddering at the memory of Naruto saying that life without Hinata was like ramen without broth.

"Divert the conversation to ramen?"

"I don't think he knows what love really is," she clarified, or rather, didn't clarify.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know if he knows the difference between the love of a food like ramen or shiratama dango, and romantic love towards a person."

"W-what?"

"He just needs the difference beaten into him. That's all! Just take the lead and everything will fall in place!" Sakura said assuredly, palming her fist.

"I...um...okay..." Hinata mumbled.

Maybe being forward and blunt was a good way to deal with Hinata too?

"He's become so popular lately," Sakura said.

Hinata seemed to shrink in on herself.

"R-really?"

"Other villagers come here just to take photos of him!"

Hinata mumbled a non-committal, "Oh."

"Don't just say 'oh,' finish that scarf!" she pushed.

"Oh..." Hinata caught herself at the last moment and injected a bit of force into her voice. "Sorry, okay."

"C'mon, be more confident! Be bold!"

"Sure."

Was the forceful and blunt treatment a mistake? Hinata looked like a frightened little bunny. Sakura felt a pang of guilt. She was supposed to be encouraging Hinata, not scaring her away by mentioning potential competition.

She got up and wrapped her arm around Hinata.

"Listen," she said comfortingly. "Just...just do your best and Naruto will cherish your present. I'm sure of it."

Hinata smiled softly.

"Thank you, Sakura-san. I really appreciate you."

They both paid up and set off together.


	9. Running Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All recognizable lines are from the Last movie, and are not mine, and of course, the same goes for all the future chapters as well. :)

_Cast on._

_Knit row._

_Bind off._

_Cast on._

_Knit row._

_Bind off._

Hinata repeated the rhythm like clockwork. A feeling of calmness steadied her hands and washed over her mind.

Simple, methodical activities like knitting were always a huge stress reliever for her. It was one of the hobbies she'd picked up soon after becoming a genin – a perfect pick-me-up after practicing jyuuken all day, every day, only to make almost no progress and earning cold looks of disappointment from her father and the rest of the Hyuuga.

She glanced at the tattered red scarf on her table. Was it really fourteen years since _that_ day? She smiled as she remembered that freezing day like it was yesterday. The moment when she met Naruto for the first time ever.

" _My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I'm the future Hokage, ya know!"_

Hinata believed him a hundred percent when he said that with such force and vigor back then.

She wondered if he remembered that day too. She hoped it was as important to him as it was to her.

It was the first time someone had ever been kind to her. She only needed to look at this scarf and imagine Naruto's kind smile from that day again.

_Cast on._

_Knit row._

_Bind off._

_Cast on._

_Knit row._

_Bind off._

Her pet project on her off-time from missions was almost complete.

Just a few more days.

* * *

_Slurp...slurp...slurp._

An extra large bowl of miso ramen with chashu and naruto.

On the worst days of his childhood, the days when he was just the "demon fox brat," he could always count on Old Man Teuchi, Big Sis Ayame, and an extra large bowl of miso ramen with chashu and naruto. He remembered that freezing night like it was yesterday, that night when he met Old Man Teuchi for the first time ever.

" _Hey, kid, would you like some ramen? Miso ramen with chashu and naruto toppings. Come inside."_

People always thought that his love for ramen was just some bizarre, inexplicable obsession he had. They were wrong.

It was a memory of the first time someone had been kind to him. Every time he had a bowl of Ichiraku's ramen, if he savored the taste just enough, he could imagine Old Man Teuchi's kind smile again.

Memories…

He was jolted out of his daydream as he remembered the scarf wrapped around his neck – another precious memory. He carefully removed it and put it away.

Sakura frowned and began to ask him something but –

"Hinata! If you haven't eaten yet, want to have dinner with us?" Ino called out.

Naruto whirled around. Hinata was standing in front of Ichiraku, bundled up in a purple jacket and holding a paper bag.

"Today's my treat!" he said warmly.

"Naruto's so happy about something that he wants to celebrate!" Sakura coaxed.

Hinata was...hesitating. Why? She'd been doing that a lot lately, and only around him. The thought made his heart clench.

Sakura was watching the two of them with a funny look. Before he could ponder on it, she stood and asked Hinata to take a seat.

"Yeah, join us!" he said.

He shot a grateful glance at Sakura as Hinata made her way towards them. Finally, some time with Hinata! He'd barely seen her at all over the past few weeks, and whenever he'd try to say hi, she'd just turn tail and run. He hadn't seen her act like that in...forever.

It hurt a lot, if he was being honest.

He was about to say hi to her and ask her where she'd been when two of his fangirls barged in.

"Did you like the presents, Naruto-senpai?"

"Oh, yeah...Have something to eat, you guys. It's my treat. You too, Hinata!"

He tried to smile at her, but he somehow found himself being dragged away.

Then Hinata bolted from the table.

Sakura turned towards him with a meaningful look.

"Walk her home!"

Naruto squinted at Sakura. Why? Hinata knew where her house was. It's not like she had amnesia or anything.

He voiced this out loud, only for Sakura to say, "You shouldn't let girls walk alone at night!"

That was...strange.

"But Hinata's super strong! No one in the village would dare mess with her!" he explained.

Why did Sakura think that Hinata was a pushover or something?

Hinata turned tail and ran, _again_.

Sakura scowled at Naruto.

"You're an idiot!" she snapped, before running after Hinata.

"Huh? Why are you calling me an idiot?"

He watched Hinata's back with no small amount of bewilderment.

If she kept avoiding him, did that mean she was mad at him? His stomach sank.

* * *

Naruto paid up and left Ichiraku not five minutes after that odd scene. The ramen tasted like ash in his mouth after Hinata ran away like that.

He stared intently at the moon as he made his way home through the snow-lined streets. Lately, it seemed that Hinata was always making a sad face because of him. He had no idea what he was doing wrong, whether it was telling her that her long hair was beautiful or that she was so strong that no one would bother her.

He wished she would come back, if only so that he could say sorry.

His heart sped up as he rounded the corner and spotted a purple jacket and mane of inky black hair.

"Naruto-kun..."

Huh? How could she be talking to him over there when he was all the way over here? Was she using her Byakugan to stare at him through the back of her head?

"Hinata!"

He rushed towards her excitedly.

She abruptly froze, then turned around slowly and stiffly, like she'd been caught stealing cookies from a jar.

"Good...evening."

She looked...so...cute, with her shy little smile.

He beamed at her. Someone out there was listening to his prayers!

"We just saw each other at Ichiraku, didn't we?"

"Oh, that's right!"

She kept smiling that little smile. His heart calmed. She...wasn't mad at him?

"So, what's up?" he asked.

She glanced at his neck and froze up.

"That's...a very nice scarf," she mumbled.

"Oh...yes!"

Hinata had great taste in scarves, just like his mom! He wondered what she would say if she could have ever gotten a chance to meet Hinata. She would probably approve, because Hinata was awesome.

His musings were broken off by the rumbling of her stomach.

He smiled sympathetically. She really didn't have dinner after all. "Seems like you _are_ hungry!"

Hinata's face turned the same shade as his mother's beautiful red hair.

"Do you want some cup ramen?"

The blush was spreading from her face to her neck. Naruto was fascinated. Did she blush _everywhere_? Like, a full body blush?

"I have some in my – "

"Good night!" she yelled, running away for the millionth time in the past few weeks.

"Hinata? Didn't you want to talk to me? Hinata!"

He frowned, then took off after her.

She wasn't getting away this time!


	10. Kidnapping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Recognizable dialogue is from the Last movie.

A scream pierced through the freezing air.

Naruto rushed towards the sound, which seemed to be emanating from a deserted playground.

It was Hinata, being taken away by some strange men…?

One of the strange men was holding a green orb towards Hinata as she kicked and struggled.

"What are you doing to Hinata?" Naruto yelled.

He surged forwards, only for his fist to connect with thin air. A horde of masked men descended upon the scene.

Naruto fought them all off with a barrage of punches and kicks, then activated his Shadow Clone Jutsu to engage them.

It was a waste of time to fight all of them personally. Hinata was nowhere in sight.

He finally spotted her, being carried away by one of those masked guys. He set off in hot pursuit.

Just as he was gaining in on them on the rooftops, _more_ masked men appeared. Ugh, did they disperse his Shadow Clones?

Naruto wove his way through the exploding beams of light they fired at him, tearing the men apart with Wind Release Rasen-Shuriken.

He finally leapt in front of the one holding Hinata, only for his fist to connect with thin air again. Another exploding barrage rained down on him. He scowled and sped up. He _couldn't_ let Hinata get kidnapped by some random weirdos! He created another Rasen-Shuriken, guiding its trajectory towards the masked man who had captured Hinata.

He was instantly torn apart by the deadly blades of wind chakra, releasing Hinata from his grip.

His heart almost stopped beating when Hinata fell off the edge of the building. The only thing stopping her from reaching the ground was a red scarf that had got caught on a hook.

"Hinata!" he yelled. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" came her voice.

Just as he was about to help, more exploding beams raced towards him.

Naruto was getting seriously annoyed. Why wouldn't they just stay down? He finished off the one who'd attacked him with a Rasengan, then rushed towards Hinata.

She was falling, falling, _falling_ –

He caught her just before she hit the ground.

* * *

Hinata was staring mournfully at the shredded scarf as he asked her where the strange men had come from. She had only just said she didn't know, when the tall white-haired man who had been holding that green orb appeared in front of them.

"The final day is coming," he said in an eerie voice. "...Before then – "

Naruto attacked.

The man disappeared, only to reappear in midair.

"Hinata, I'll be coming for you."

As he faded, a burning hot object appeared in his place.

It flew beyond the village of Konoha, beyond the Hokage Monument, and into the deep forest.

An explosion turned the night sky into day.

What the hell?

* * *

"Hinata, we have to tell Kakashi-sensei about this," Naruto prompted.

Hinata nodded, her eyes fixed on the ruined scarf. He grabbed her hand and pulled her up.

Together, they set off towards the Hokage Tower.

A thousand thoughts buzzed in Naruto's head. Who were those masked weirdos? Why did they try to take Hinata? Who was that white-haired guy, and why was he coming for Hinata? What was up with that explosion?

He gave Hinata a puzzled glance, but she only shook her head.

Excited and fearful chatter filled the air as they walked through the winding streets of the village.

"Did you see that explosion?"

"Mmm, I made a wish on it. It was clearly a shooting star."

"You idiot! That was not a shooting star. It was a gas explosion."

"A gas explosion in the middle of the forest? What are you smoking?"

On most nights, Naruto might have joined in on the gossip. Tonight, though, he exchanged a meaningful look with Hinata and they sped up their gait.

The lights were still on when they reached the Hokage Tower. Kakashi-sensei still wasn't asleep yet? Well, Sakura kept telling him that baa-chan went through the same thing before she retired. Actually, he was pretty sure that the sleep deprivation and burn-out and general lack of free time was one major reason she'd been eager to dump the job onto Kakashi-sensei and go back to her favorite gambling dens.

He shook the stream of random thoughts out of his head as they climbed the stairs and reached the Hokage's office.

Naruto didn't even knock. He just barged in.

"Kakashi-sensei! Kakashi-sensei! You won't believe what happened! There were these masked guys, and they tried to kidnap Hinata, and I stopped them, then this pale-haired weirdo showed up and said some stuff about final days and that he would come for Hinata and – "

"Calm down, Naruto," said a very surprised Kakashi-sensei, who for some reason was wearing his full Hokage robes. "Start from the beginning."

Hinata cleared her throat.

"Kakashi-sensei, I was attacked by a group of strange masked men just half an hour ago. Naruto-kun stopped them from kidnapping me. None of them appeared to be from Konoha nor any other village. The white-haired man whom Naruto-kun spoke of called himself Toneri. He said that he would come for me."

Kakashi-sensei stood up from his desk as though struck by lightning.

"Could it be that this has something to do with what we just discussed – "

Before he could finish the thought, the door slammed open again. It was Hyuuga Ko, Hinata's old childhood bodyguard.

"Hinata-sama, Hokage-sama! Terrible news! Hanabi-sama has been kidnapped!"


	11. Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always wanted to write an NH story that took place immediately after the war, and during the events and aftermath of the Last movie, and that's why I wrote this.
> 
> But even though I'm covering the Last movie here, I've been trying my best to avoid just recapping the events that take place in the movie (because that would be uncreative of me), so I've been putting in some missing moment type stuff...Tell me how it's working, please! :)

Hinata's blood turned into ice.

"W-what do you mean, Ko? How could she have been kidnapped?"

Hinata had just seen Hanabi _half an hour_ ago.

Ko took a deep, shaky breath. "It – it all happened so fast, I'm not sure what really happened. Some strange masked men broke into the compound and just took her. We tried to pursue them, but they were too fast."

Then the door burst open again and a fourth person came in. It was Sai.

"Hokage-sama," he said. He nodded a polite greeting at Ko, then fixed Naruto, Hinata, and Kakashi-sensei with an intent look. "I was near the forest when I saw Hinata-san's little sister, Hanabi-chan, being carried away by a group of unknown assailants."

Kakashi-sensei took his time to process the information overload. He steepled his gloved fingers together, his eyes a million miles away.

"Hinata...almost kidnapped…Hinata's sister...actually kidnapped...explosion caused by meteorite...moon falling..." he muttered to himself.

Wait, what? _Moon falling?_

"Kakashi-sensei, may I request a mission to rescue my sister?" Hinata asked.

Naruto glanced at her tightly clenched fists, her knuckles white with intense pressure. He reached out and gently rubbed her hands.

Kakashi-sensei gave her a reassuring, calm eye-smile.

"You took the words right out of my mouth, Hinata. Meet me here at seven in the morning tomorrow. You too, Naruto, Sai."

* * *

Hinata and Ko walked back home with an agitated gait. Ko, still not having recovered from the shock of Hanabi's kidnapping, protectively wrapped his arm around Hinata's shoulder. He never did grow out of his old bodyguard role.

"Are you all right, Hinata-sama?" he asked quietly. "I believe that Naruto-kun said that you were almost kidnapped as well?"

"Yes," she said. "Do you think that someone is...targeting our clan?"

It wasn't unheard of. Their white eyes had been the subject of several kidnap attempts over the decades since Konoha's founding, and even during the Warring States Era – the most recent attempt being on Hinata herself by the Kumogakure ninja at a very young age.

But the villages had all united and kekkei genkai thievery was being rooted out. There was no way another village could or would attack Konoha now, with the current peace. And those men were definitely not wearing the standard shinobi uniforms of any village.

Missing-nin? Perhaps black market rogues who had somehow infiltrated Konoha?

Ko squeezed Hinata's shoulder comfortingly.

"I do not know, Hinata-sama. I thought that we would all be safe after the end of the war." He shook his head.

On that foreboding note, they reached the Hyuuga compound. Despite the late hour, all the lights were on. The house was in an uproar.

Six-year-old Hotaru rushed towards them and threw her arms around Hinata. "Nee-sama, are you okay?"

As she removed her shoes and entered the house, Hinata found herself surrounded by every single member of the clan.

"We took a head count of everyone after Hanabi's kidnapping and excepting the ones on missions, you were the only one missing, Hinata," said her grandmother. "Where have you been?"

Hinata was surprised by the concern in her voice as she was engulfed in bear hugs by her young cousins, and to her shock, her aunts, uncles, and quite a few distant relatives as well.

"I, um...I was with my friends. Those masked men tried to kidnap me as well, but I'm fine now. I apologize for worrying everyone," Hinata mumbled.

"Don't be sorry, child," said her grandfather. "I'm just glad that you're safe."

What was going on? Why did everyone seem to... _care_ that she was all right? And not just the usual worry over the Byakugan falling into the wrong hands. She'd _never_ received such a warm reception from her fellow clan members, except for the aftermath of Pain's attack on Konoha and the end of the Fourth Ninja War.

Ko cleared his throat. "Hinata-sama has been assigned a mission from Hokage-sama himself to rescue Hanabi-sama. She will be departing tomorrow."

"Is that so?" her grandmother said briskly. "In that case, everyone, leave Hinata to rest and recover tonight so that she may perform admirably and retrieve Hanabi."

She began to shoo the anxious Hyuuga away, as Ko gently guided her to her room.

"Everyone's gone insane lately, Ko. Except for you." Hinata laughed awkwardly as she shut the door behind her. "Why is everyone so...affectionate?" Naruto might say that they were _touchy-feely_.

Ko gave her a strange look. "Hinata-sama, they've been affectionate for quite some time."

"No, they haven't," she said. "Since when do we do group hugs?"

"They were worried about you and they were relieved that you're safe, Hinata-sama. It was a spontaneous outpouring of love."

_Love?_

In the Hyuuga clan, one was respected for one's mastery over the Gentle Fist art at most. One would get a begrudging nod of approval from the clan head for executing a perfect Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm or for the ability to see thirty miles away with the Byakugan. That was all.

It was true that they'd stopped the practice of dividing the clan into a Main Family and Branch Family several years ago, but this level of...tenderness...was just...

Ko noticed her flummoxed expression.

"Hinata-sama, you're a precious person to me and to everyone in this clan," he said gently. "Please don't forget that."

Right before he turned off the lights and closed the door, he whispered, "Good night and good luck, Hinata-sama. You're very strong. I know you'll succeed."

Sleep didn't come for many hours.

Hinata stared at the dark ceiling. For some reason, her mind wandered to that day when Naruto defeated Pain and was embraced and tossed into the air by joyful villagers. The same villagers who had sneered at him and given him looks of barely concealed loathing for years had refused to give up his location to the Six Paths of Pain even under pain of death.

The villagers had changed, at some point.

When did the Hyuuga change?

Her restless, anxious mind meandered to Hanabi's last words to her.

" _Isn't it cute?" Hanabi brandished a kunai which she'd attached a doll to._

" _Maybe instead of a scarf, you should try wearing something fashionable," she said, giving her big sister a cheery wave._

Was she hurt? Was she scared? Her words to Sakura from last week drifted back to her.

" _Oh, well, it's a big responsibility. You always have to look out for your little sister and protect her. And you have to do your best to put up with her teasing and pranks. And she never listens to you when you tell her not to do foolish things..."_

She really was a terrible sister, whether to Neji nii-san or to Hanabi. She couldn't protect them when it mattered the most.

Her eyes stung.

Sleep brought no relief to her tortured mind.

Her dreams faded into that day when Pain had impaled Naruto's hands with metal rods.

Then her mind went back to her recurring dream of Neji nii-san leaping in front of her and Naruto, taking the blows meant for her.

Neji shifted into Hanabi, dying on her shoulder with a ghost of a smile.

When Hinata woke up, she found that her pillow was stained with tears.


	12. Through the Cave

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm getting kinda repetitive here, but...yeah, these scenes are just from the movie, not mine.

Hinata arrived at the Hokage Tower half an hour early. She and Kakashi-sensei were still the only two people in the room.

"Good morning, Hinata," Kakashi-sensei greeted tiredly. His eyes were ringed with dark circles, making him look like a raccoon. "I take it that you do accept this mission? You don't want to back out?"

"Of course I accept, Kakashi-sensei," Hinata said automatically. "I would do anything to save Hanabi."

Kakashi-sensei nodded. "Good, good. Hinata, I have to discuss something with you in private."

Hinata leaned her head forwards.

"I organized a Five Kage Summit yesterday. Konoha's astronomers have reason to believe that the meteorite crash landing from yesterday was actually a fragment of the moon."

" _What?"_

"In short, we have come to the conclusion that chunks of the moon are breaking off and falling to Earth." Kakashi-sensei stared at his hand intently, like it held a secret that only he knew. "These meteorite showers are, quite frankly, not a natural occurrence. Perhaps Hanabi's kidnapping is connected to this.

"Your presence on this mission is vital. After all, the man who kidnapped Hanabi also tried to kidnap you. You may be able to draw him out and find your sister's location. And of course, stop the moon from crashing into the Earth."

* * *

Sai's ink bird swooshed through the dismal gray sky, as the wind whipped through Hinata's long hair.

She stared at the back of Naruto's neck. His dark green scarf seemed to be waving mockingly at her. Her stomach lurched in tune with the wind.

She activated her Byakugan and began scanning the snowy, windswept forest grounds for any signs of Hanabi.

Her eyes fell upon a familiar-looking object. She gasped.

"Do you see anything?" asked Naruto.

"Yes." She pointed downwards. "Please steer the bird over there, Naruto-kun."

They swooped into the small clearing that Hinata was indicating and both alighted on the ground with a dull thud.

Hinata bent down and began digging through the snow.

"It's Hanabi's kunai!"

As Hinata began to store it away in her bag, Naruto stared.

"Huh? You brought that scarf?" he asked.

"Oh...um..." Hinata really didn't want to talk about the scarf with Naruto. _Especially_ not with Naruto.

Naruto stared at her in concern, his hands on his hips. "Why don't you wear it? Aren't you cold?"

Yes, she was. It was freezing. But there was no way she would wear this scarf. Some things stung worse than cold weather.

"No, I'm fine, thanks," she mumbled. She stowed the kunai next to the scarf. Such painful reminders. The ones she loved the most were both so far away from her.

"Anyway, we should let Shikamaru-kun and the others know about this," said Hinata as she put on her backpack.

"Yeah, I guess you're right!"

They both mounted the ink bird and set off to tell the others.

It seemed that Hanabi wasn't so far away after all. Hinata could sense her faint chakra.

* * *

The team flew past a roaring waterfall, all in search of Hanabi's chakra trail, which was leading them deeper and deeper into the forest.

"Hinata, do you see anything?" Shikamaru called out.

"There's a glowing spring at the bottom of a cave!" she said.

"A glowing spring?"

* * *

The journey to the bottom of the cave was dark and treacherous. Hinata stumbled and lost her balance quite a few times.

Naruto caught her every single time. His kindness and concern might have sent jolts of happiness through her the day before yesterday, but today it felt as though her heart was an empty drum and he was slamming on it.

They eventually reached the spring, glowing coldly with a blue light.

"Hinata, what do you see at the bottom of the spring?" Shikamaru asked.

She peered down into the depths. It was as though she was trying to see through a murky soup.

"My sight is distorted."

"Something's distorting the Byakugan?"

"We'll just have to see for ourselves," Naruto said.

He paused. "Oh, I can't be getting this wet."

He began to carefully and lovingly take off the green scarf.

"What the big deal? How does it matter if it gets wet?" asked Sakura.

"It too is a big deal! This scarf is precious, ya know!"

Another painful jolt slammed through Hinata's heart. So the scarf was precious to him. He already had a precious item. He didn't need hers.

Sai knelt down and cupped some of the water in his hands.

"You won't need to take it off," he observed. "You don't get wet when you touch the water."

They all took a deep breath and dove in.

The spring was dimly lit by glowing bubbles of light.

For the second time in her life, Hinata's whole world went black due to a genjutsu.


	13. Genjutsu Memories

_Hinata found herself standing in a crater, her body much shorter, her eyes less keen. Plumes of gray smoke rose into the sky. Kneeling next to her was a wounded Ko._

_She zoomed in on a faraway scene with her Byakugan._

_Her thoughts from two years ago were somehow flooding her mind again._

Naruto-kun was fighting all by himself!

_Pain's Rinnegan eyes bored into a pinned Naruto. To her horror, blood was seeping from his impaled hands again._

_How did she find herself reliving this awful nightmare? It was long over!_

…

_Just like before, her body moved on its own._

_Her fist went smashing into the ground, just as Pain was about to take Naruto away._

_Pain stared at her impassively._

" _Reinforcements?" he said in a monotone voice._

" _I won't let you lay a single hand on Naruto-kun!" she yelled._

_Naruto stared at her in horror. "Why did you come here?! Run! There's no way you – "_

" _I know," she broke in. Naruto fell silent. "I'm just doing this...for my own satisfaction."_

" _What are you talking about?" Naruto cried. "Why are you putting yourself in danger like this?"_

" _I'm here...because of my own will."_

_Naruto just continued to stare at her, aghast and a little perplexed._

_He really didn't understand. She would have to explain it properly._

" _I used to just cry and give up at the very beginning...I took the wrong path so many times," she said calmly. "But Naruto-kun, you always guided me to the right path. I always chased after you. I wanted to catch up with you and walk with you forever. I always wanted to be at your side. Naruto-kun, you changed me. Your smile saved me! And that's why if it's for the sake of protecting you, I'm not afraid of dying!"_

_She took a deep breath._

" _Because, Naruto-kun...I love you. That's why."_

_As she charged towards Pain, blue lion shrouds cloaking her fists, she felt herself being wrenched forwards by an immense gravity._

…

_Now she was even shorter and at the age when she couldn't see ten miles away._

_She was back in the Chuunin Exams hall. A thirteen-year-old Neji nii-san was sneering at her again._

" _It's impossible for you to change yourself..."_

" _YES, YOU CAN!" Naruto yelled._

…

_The world pitched forwards again and Hinata found herself being hurled into a strange, bright room._

_She was her proper age again, seated next to a sixteen-year-old Naruto and a bearded, bespectacled man whom she recognized as the Hachibi jinchuuriki, Killer B. Captain Yamato watched nervously as Naruto and Killer B began to bump fists._

_Then, to her bewilderment, Killer B and Captain Yamato vanished and Naruto's fist somehow connected with her own._

_A beautiful woman with long red hair stood before Naruto and herself. Hinata did a double take. She drank in the incredibly familiar features. The medium-length, round-tipped nose, the shape of her eyes, the turn of her lips, the_ smile…

_The resemblance was uncanny. One could almost say they were –_

" _...You're the Kyuubi's true form!" Naruto yelled, pointing an accusing finger towards the woman._

_She started laughing hysterically._

" _What a scary laugh! You think you can trick me by taking that form, Kyuubi?" said Naruto._

_She hit Naruto on the head. "You're wrong, ya know?"_

" _Oww," Naruto moaned, clutching his head. "...Ya know?"_

_The woman scratched the back of her head. The familiar action sent shock waves through Hinata. Someone with the exact same mannerisms as Naruto?_

" _Ha ha ha, I guess I confused you," she said heartily. "I'm a very impatient person by nature. I talk so fast that people can't keep up and I get excited and say whatever comes to mind!"_

_Her eyes crinkled as she smiled at Naruto. "I hope you didn't end up getting any weird ways of speaking like me."_

_Naruto's lip wobbled._

_His mother rambled on, obliviously. "Didn't Minato tell you anything? That's a shame! I'm your – "_

_Naruto tackled his mother in a hug for the first time._

" _I've always...wanted to meet you, ya know, kaa-chan?"_

" _Ya know, you really are my child."_

…

_The vision started blurring and flickering around the edges. She could only catch snatches of the conversation between Naruto and his mother._

" _...You have your dad's hair, but you have my face. Sorry, Naruto."_

" _Why? It means that I'm good-looking like you, right? I wish I had your beautiful, straight red hair too!"_

…

" _How did you fall in love with tou-chan?"_

…

" _I thought he was a sissy and unreliable..."_

" _Until a certain incident..."_

" _Red string of fate..."_

…

_The landscape of her dream shifted until she found herself under the open sky on a beautiful summer day. Her recurring dream again?_

_She was sitting on a park bench. Naruto was by her side, holding her hand. She was sure that this had never happened in real life._

_Naruto smiled softly at her and his hand reached up to brush a stray leaf out of her hair. She shivered at the contact._

_His earlier words flooded into her mind._

"And you look amazing with long hair too! You looked cute before, but now you're really beautiful and your hair looks so silky, ya know?"

"I wish I had your beautiful, straight red hair too."

_Hinata wondered what Naruto's mother would think of her if they could have met. She hoped that she would have approved._

_His hand didn't leave her hair for several long, blissful seconds._

_She leaned her head against his shoulder and smiled._

_Then Hanabi burst onto the scene. "Nee-sama, wake up!"_

_Wake up? She was already awake._

" _Wake up!"_

_Why was she speaking in Sakura's voice?_

" _Hinata, wake up! It's a genjutsu! Wake up!"_

Her eyes shot open.


	14. The Moon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, more movie scenes...I'm sorry to bother you guys by stating this all the time...

Sakura, Shikamaru, and Sai were crouching next to her, all looking groggy, as though they'd been woken up from a long nap.

Sakura put her hand on Hinata's forehead.

"You seem fine," she said in relief. "Those bubbles we ran into were traps. I only just dispelled the genjutsu on these two."

"Are you all right, Hinata-san?" Sai asked, helping her up.

She nodded, then glanced down. Her bag's contents had spilled, and her red scarf was wrapped around...Naruto.

She felt her ears heat up as she hastily retrieved her scarf. How did it do that on its own?

Naruto was in a deep sleep, still trapped under the genjutsu. She knelt down next to him, concerned.

"Hinata..." he muttered.

He was asleep, so how did he know that she was next to him?

"Naruto, wake up!" Sakura said sharply.

"Hinata?" he muttered again.

Sakura gave him a rough slap.

"Owww."

She placed her hands on his stomach, sending her chakra through his body to disrupt the illusion.

"This is a genjutsu. It's not real!" she said urgently.

Naruto's eyes slowly opened.

* * *

They sped forwards, leaping off lumps of hard sand, much the same way the would leap from tree branch to tree branch on Earth, finally reaching another spring identical to the one they had just crossed.

"Can you use your Byakugan here?" Shikamaru asked Hinata.

"No, my sight is still distorted," she responded.

"Okay, we'll have to be ready to fight."

"Right!" Sakura and Sai said.

And with that, the three sped off into the spring.

Just as Hinata was about to jump, she saw that Naruto was stock still.

"Huh? What's wrong?" she asked.

"Um...those genjutsu dreams from earlier..." he murmured.

"What is it?"

She didn't want to bring up those odd dreams she'd had involving him. She felt like she saw something she shouldn't have.

"It's nothing...never mind," he said quietly, giving her a tiny smile.

Then he jumped in after the others.

Hardly had she taken a few steps forward when she heard _that_ voice.

"Hinata."

She stopped.

"I said I'd come for you, but you've come for me. It's very flattering," said Toneri. His eyes seemed oddly familiar.

Hinata took on her fighting stance. "Where's Hanabi?!"

"Don't worry. She's fine," he said calmly, jumping towards her. "She's sleeping at my castle."

"Give her back right now!" She thrust her palm towards him preemptively.

"That depends on your answer, Byakugan Princess."

"Byakugan Princess? What?"

"Let's get married, Hinata."

" _Married?"_

This was, without a doubt, the strangest conversation she had ever had in her life. Who randomly asks his enemy to marry him?

"Hinata!"

Naruto had come back for her.

"Naruto-kun!"

He glowered at Toneri.

"Stay away from Hinata!" he yelled.

"You again, huh?" Toneri said. "Get out of the way, nuisance."

"Where's Hanabi?" Naruto snarled, taking a swing at Toneri.

They exchanged a storm of punches and kicks. To Hinata's surprise, Toneri was able to keep up with Naruto's heavy blows – at least until Naruto punched him directly in the face.

Toneri's face seemed to _break_ and he flew into a nearby stone wall.

He slowly struggled to his feet.

"You're a puppet?" asked Naruto.

"This...isn't my real body," Toneri affirmed. "Next time, Hinata, my real self will come. And at that time, I'll need your answer.

Toneri's broken face looked at her malevolently.

"Shut up!"

But before Naruto's fist could connect, the puppet crumpled.

"Your fists will never reach me...fool."

* * *

Joining up with the others wasn't too much of a hassle. It turned out that Sakura had killed a giant guardian crab with her punch.

"And if you leave Hinata exposed to danger again, I'll punch you, too," Sakura warned.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Naruto said. "Hinata, I'll never – "

She looked at him curiously.

"I'll never let you out of my sight again." He stared at the ground with a very strange expression.

"What? You're already looking away," said Sakura.

"What do you mean? No, I'm not!"

Her stomach roiled with unidentifiable emotions as he gave her a sideways glance.

There was a bright light at the end of the cave after all.

* * *

Their rescue team finally reached the surface. Before them was a vast ocean under a cloudy sky.

"Is that a floating island?" asked Naruto, staring across the horizon.

"No," said Sai. "The ocean's surface is warped."

"How?" Sakura asked. "There can't be any underground sunlight."

"It must be artificial," Shikamaru reasoned.

"A man-made sun?" Sai mused.

"Yeah..."

Why did the underground look just like aboveground?


	15. The Guts to Never Give Up

Naruto and Hinata flew across the evening sky, perched on an ink bird.

Despite all her searching, she found no sign of the enemy with her Byakugan.

The rescue team stopped at dusk in a forest to set up camp. Sakura wandered over to a spring to wash her face and Shikamaru curled up under the shade of a tree like a cat. Naruto was...Hinata had no idea where Naruto went. It might have been for the best, because Hinata was feeling itchy under her skin the whole time they were seated together on the ink bird, as though she might spontaneously combust.

In the end, she decided to simply sit inside the tent, thinking she might do some meditation and drink a cup of soothing green tea.

To her surprise, she was joined by Sai of all people.

"Good evening, Hinata-san," he said, with one of his small, polite smiles.

"Oh, good evening, Sai-kun." Hinata realized that she'd never spent any time with the former Root member.

She scrutinized him. With his black hair and clothes accentuating his milky pale complexion, he looked like he hadn't seen sunlight in months – such a contrast to Naruto's warm and tan skin. She frowned. He looked like he could use some green tea.

"Ah, thank you very much," he said, when she handed him her flask. "You're very kind, Hinata-san. I think it's one of the reasons why Naruto loves you."

Hinata shook her head in melancholy. "Naruto-kun holds no special feelings towards me, Sai-kun."

"What makes you think that?" he asked.

"Well, it's just...he has many precious people, and I'm not particularly special," she said.

There were plenty of people willing, eager even, to stay by his side and hold his hand. And he'd already obtained a special scarf from one of them. Her gift would be superfluous. _She_ was superfluous, whether to the Hyuuga clan, her team, or to Naruto himself.

"Really?" Sai rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a book titled _The Art of Building Good Human Relationships_. "But it says here that all of our loved ones are unique and special. For example, the love you feel for a sibling is different from the love you feel for your parents, or lover, or your other friends. And even the love you have for one friend can be different from the love you have for another."

"...Yes," she said warily. Where was Sai going with this? He was talking a bit like Shino.

"So it means that you must be special to Naruto in your own way," Sai asserted confidently. "This book was written by a psychologist, so it must be true."

"That's...I, um, Sai-kun..."

"I believe that Naruto called you beautiful at that restaurant we all went to a few weeks ago. Doesn't that signify his attraction to you?"

It was true that Naruto had said that, but...

Sai didn't press her on her silence. Instead, he stared at the canvas of the tent and continued to take little sips of tea.

"Is having a little sister different from having a big brother?" Sai asked after a few moments.

"Hmmm, I don't know, Sai-kun. It's difficult to say. Neji nii-san was very different from Hanabi, but..." Her emotions were going haywire lately. She had no idea how to describe half of the things she was feeling.

"I used to have a big brother," said Sai thoughtfully. "His name was Shin. He always protected me and looked out for me, although he was very stupid."

He pulled out another two books from his bag. Flipping to the center of one, he showed her a painting of himself and a white-haired boy, holding hands and smiling.

"You're a very good artist, Sai-kun," Hinata commented.

"I don't think I am," he said. "My latest paintings always go wrong."

He opened the other book and displayed the ink-stained pages.

All of them were beautiful likenesses of Ino.

Ino working at the flower shop. Ino training with Shikamaru and Chouji. Ino eating dango with Sakura.

Sai had somehow brought to life the sparkle in her sky blue eyes, the curve of her lips when she smiled, the exact shade of her pale blonde hair, several shades lighter than Naruto's own sunflower blonde.

"They're...they're beautiful, Sai-kun," Hinata breathed.

Sai scowled. It was such an uncharacteristic expression on his face that Hinata was momentarily taken aback.

"No..." he mumbled. He flipped to a ruined page. It seemed to be a botched attempt of himself and Ino, holding hands and smiling. Well, she thought it was supposed to be – it was hard to tell because it looked as though Sai had crossed everything out in a fit of frustration.

"I keep trying to picture myself in her life, but I can't. It never goes as well as the paintings of Ino with her teammates or Sakura."

He shook his head like an animal shooing away flies.

"I wanted to finish a painting in time so that I could give it to her as a Rinne Festival present, but I think I might be too late," he said. "And besides, what if she...rejects it?"

Hinata felt a pang of empathy. Pouring your heart and soul into a gift for your loved one, only for it to be rejected...it wasn't something she would wish on her worst enemy.

"Sai-kun, I'm sure you have a special place in Ino-san's life," Hinata said. "Don't give up before you even start."

"Thank you for your kind words, Hinata-san. As I said before, it must be something that Naruto loves about you."

He began removing painting supplies from a special compartment inside his bag. He paused and glanced at her over his shoulder.

"You shouldn't give up before you even start, either."

* * *

Hinata couldn't sleep.

She quietly left the tent, clutching the red scarf.

" _I used to just cry and give up at the very beginning...I took the wrong path so many times. But Naruto-kun, you always guided me to the right path."_

Didn't she say that to Naruto, so long ago? That she used to give up before she would even start, until _he_ inspired her to push on long past the point of exhaustion. And now what was she doing? Giving up before she even started?

What would Neji nii-san say if he knew that she ran away before she could even take a flying leap?

Her exhausted mind went on autopilot as she mended the ripped scarf.

That was right. She wouldn't give up. She would keep trying and trying until she reached Naruto's side and his heart. On that day, she really would be able to lean her head against his shoulder and smile, just as in that strange dream.

She was sure that was what Naruto's mother would say.


	16. Like a Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you all think of the scenes that I added along with the movie content. :)
> 
> Pretty please?

Hinata woke up to the smell of ramen. Bright sunlight was streaming in through a sliver of exposed canvas. She groggily raised her head.

"Good morning, Hinata!" Naruto said.

She slowly crawled out of her sleeping bag. It seemed like no one had stopped Naruto from packing instant noodles on a mission. Again.

Yet something was very strange. Naruto was smiling at her almost bashfully with spots of pink on his cheeks. He was totally ignoring the noodles that were sure to have been boiling for well over three minutes on the portable stove that Sakura had brought along.

"Naruto-kun? Why didn't you use Boil Release?" she asked, finally fully awake.

"Boil Release?" he repeated, still smiling.

"Yes, like you did when we were on that mission with Kiba-kun and Shino-kun."

"Oh...oh, right!" He laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "I, um...I was going to, but then I thought that the noodles might get cold by the time you woke up, so I thought heating it would be better and – "

The pot began smoking and a charred smell hung in the air.

Naruto had accidentally overcooked the ramen. He hastily turned off the stove.

"I'm so sorry, Hinata! I was just waiting for you to wake up and I totally forgot about the noodles."

He stared ruefully at the ramen. Hinata assessed the soupy, slightly burnt contents.

"Naruto-kun, it's only slightly burnt. Most of it is still edible," she reassured.

"Oh...okay," he said. He sighed in relief.

Naruto tried to ladle out some of the ramen for her, but his hands were shaking so badly that he spilled some all over his prosthetic hand.

What was happening? She knew that Naruto was clumsy sometimes, but he was never this way when it came to ramen.

She reached over and took the pot and ladle from him. As her fingers brushed against his bandaged hand, the two tiny pink spots on his cheeks blossomed into large pools of rosy red.

"Naruto-kun, are you all right?" she asked.

"I...I'm fine," he said shyly, averting his eyes and smiling.

She put her hand on his forehead and almost baked under the heat of his blush.

"Naruto-kun, you're burning up. Why didn't you tell me that you're sick?" she asked.

"I'm...I'm not sick," Naruto squeaked cutely. She ignored him. Hanabi would say the same thing when she wasn't feeling well either. She knew how to deal with their type.

"I'll get Sakura-san. Just hold on," she said, leaving the tent.

She returned within moments with a very sleep-deprived Sakura in tow.

The medic-nin took a seat. "All right, Naruto, what's this about a fever?" she asked briskly.

"I'm fine, Sakura-chan!" Naruto protested as she too placed her hand on his forehead.

"No, you have a slight cold," said Sakura. She glanced at the overcooked ramen. "I guess, for once, you did carry the best food for a time like this. Drink something hot every few hours to clear up any congestion and you'll be fine. I'm leaving now. Someone needs to discuss strategy with Shikamaru..."

"Thank you, Sakura-san," Hinata called out to her retreating form before turning back to Naruto. "Naruto-kun, you take half and I'll take half, okay?"

"Okay..." Naruto began to unwind the soaked bandages wrapped around his prosthetic arm. Hinata couldn't help but stare.

The arm did look like a human arm; but it was as white as the bark of a poplar tree, a stark contrast to the rest of his suntanned skin.

He noticed her looking and smiled gently.

"I haven't shown you my new arm before, right?" He extended his arm towards her in an invitation to touch it.

His hand was just as big and warm as usual.

Some things just didn't change.

* * *

Naruto wasn't wearing the scarf. The thought gave Hinata some pause before she turned her attention on the landscape below.

Time was running out. She swept the landscape with her Byakugan, zeroing in on any trace or inkling of Hanabi or the enemy.

As they journeyed far and wide, Hinata's thoughts went on overdrive.

Whenever she stared at the back of Naruto's exposed neck, for some reason, the image of his beautiful mother came to mind.

She had a sneaking suspicion that everything she saw in those visions was real. She smiled to herself as she remembered kaa-chan's face and her "weird way of speaking."

So Naruto had his father's hair but his mother's face? She wondered what his future children might look like. Would they have his face or only his hair? She amused herself by imagining one of them inheriting his weird way of speaking.

The team stopped to check out an abandoned shinobi village.

Hinata wandered a little ways from Naruto to search an expansive room. Mildewed cracks lined the ancient walls and –

She yelped as she carelessly walked right into some cobwebs.

"Hinata! What's wrong?" Footsteps thudded down the corridor.

"It's just a spiderweb," she said, pulling them out of her hair.

"You can see so far with your Byakugan, but you walked right into some spiderwebs?" Naruto's eyes sparkled with humor and...something she couldn't put her finger on. "You're so silly."

He gently combed through her hair, pulling out all the cobwebs she'd missed. Heat pooled in her cheeks as she realized that the scenario was oddly similar to her genjutsu dream.

She closed her eyes as he untangled her hair. Surprisingly, his touch didn't hurt her sensitive scalp at all.

He finished off and tucked a few strands of hair behind her ears, his hand lingering a few seconds longer.

They went on and on, searching the vast village. Naruto's cold didn't seem to be letting up. He kept sneezing and rubbing his eyes blearily, occasionally wrapping his arms around his torso in a futile effort to keep warm. If that was the case, then why wasn't he wearing his scarf?

They stopped at a water fountain to take a break.

"Naruto-kun?"

"What's up?" he said, cupping some water in his palms.

"What happened to your scarf?"

"Oh, um...it's really warm here underground, so I took it off," he brazenly lied.

It was as frosty as an autumn night.

He offered her some water out of his hands.

"Really?" she asked after taking a sip. "I think it's really cold."

"Of course you'd be cold, wearing something like that." He shyly peered at her exposed arms.

"Well, this is my mission gear." Then _she_ shyly covered her arms as they set off again.

"If you can handle this cold, then I can too, Hinata!" Naruto said competitively, then sneezed again.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, ya know?"

Naruto looked like a pouting kid with his arms crossed behind his head. Hinata tried to stifle her laugh.

"What is it?"

"Nothing."

"What is it?" he pressed.

His silly persistence drew another laugh out of her.

"It's nothing!"

"You can tell me!"

Night fell and they decided to take a break in an abandoned building.

Naruto insisted on making dinner.

This time, at least, his hands were steady and he didn't burn the ramen. It seemed as though his morning clumsiness had vanished.

Hinata should have known that he would trip and fall down the stairs instead. Because he walked into a spiderweb.

Who was silly now?

"You gave me ointment during the Chuunin Exams, didn't you?" he asked when she handed him a tub of cream.

"You still remember that?"

"I only just remembered..."

His skin was still baking in a fever as she rubbed some of the ointment on his back.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

She smiled.

This feeling…

She couldn't describe it in words.

Then Hanabi's kunai fell out of her bag.

That was right. They couldn't get sidetracked.

There was a long silence.

"We need to hurry up and rescue Hanabi," Naruto said.

"Naruto-kun," started Hinata. "I need to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"It's about what Toneri's puppet said when he appeared to us at the passageway..."

"Toneri?"

"Oh, you guys are here!" said Sai's voice from the window. "Hinata-san, you need to see this."


	17. Confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was Hinata's POV on the confession? Any thoughts?

A crumbling statue of stone stood in a massive room. Its face was cratered much like the moon, but the horns on the head and mysterious mark on the forehead were still visible.

What was this place? A temple? Was the statue a god?

A stone tablet stood in an inner room beyond the statue, dimly lit in orange light.

"What does it say?" Naruto asked.

"It's very old writing," Shikamaru murmured. " _Ancient oath...crossing humanity's path just as all else...the fist of the reborn moon...the Tensei_ _gan_ _will destroy mankind..._ "

"What does that even mean?" asked Sakura.

"The Tenseigan is causing the moon to move…?" Shikamaru guessed.

"So Kakashi-sensei was right about Hanabi's kidnapping and the moon being connected."

"His hunches are always right, and unfortunately so this time," said Shikamaru dryly.

" _Byakugan Princess."_

The ground rumbled.

"What's going on?" Shikamaru yelled.

A hidden staircase opened underneath the floor.

* * *

"A crypt…?" Shikamaru said. "What is _that_?"

A deformed white figure rotted at his side.

"Someone's here!" said Hinata.

A bearded, ghostly-looking old man was approaching.

" _It's the Byakugan...I can sense it...yes, I'm sure of it...it's the Byakugan Princess..."_

He walked towards Hinata. Naruto jumped in front of her.

"Stay away from Hinata!"

The man opened his eyes. His sockets were as black as the night sky.

He collapsed, but not before expelling a ball of purple light from his mouth.

* * *

A stream of disorientating images flooded Hinata's mind.

_A battleground appeared before her eyes. Two armies faced off, waving different banners – one emblazoned with a stylized sun and the other with a stylized moon._

_As the sun banner wielding army charged, the enemy commander yelled, "Tenseigan, charge!"_

_A glowing orb emitted a beam of light, wreathing the battlefield in explosions._

_As the smoke cleared, she beheld a scene of carnage. Dead soldiers' corpses littered the ground._

_The army carrying the moon flag was victorious._

_The scenes of war faded, only to be replaced with scores of incorporeal soldiers._

_One of the men – the_ _same_ _wrinkled old man who had approached her_ _team_ _– strode forwards._ _His deep, sonorous voice rang in her ears like a gong._

" _We are Hamura's descedants. We were of the Main Family of the Otsutsuki clan_ _and we_ _were all killed by the Branch Family after they misunderstood Hamura's decree. The head of the Branch Family, Toneri, is trying to make the moon crash into Earth with the power of the Tenseigan. Byakugan Princess, only you can destroy the Tenseigan. You're Earth's last hope."_

_All of a sudden, the Main Family members knelt respectfully. The old man made way for another and also knelt._

_A man whose face was identical to that of the ruined stone statue. Horns on his head and a mark on his forehead._

" _Are...you Otsutsuki Hamura?"_ _Hinata asked._

_He slowly inclined his head. "Listen, Byakugan Princess. Don't allow the world that my elder brother created come to an end."_

The vision abruptly dispersed.

She felt as though she'd been spinning in circles and then thrown out of a window.

Back in the present, the remains of the old man left her some parting words.

" _The Tenseigan has been revived. It must be stopped...or Otsutsuki will..."_

* * *

"Are you okay, Hinata?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah," she lied. She was sure that she was going to puke, but she swallowed back her nausea and shakily rose to her feet.

Naruto was staring at her with eyes as wide as gold coins.

"Naruto-kun, don't look at me like that," she said. "I'm fine. Really."

Everyone was staring at her skeptically. She gave them an unconvincing smile.

"We have to cover a lot of ground before the timer on your hand hits zero, Shikamaru-kun."

Their team leader jolted back into action. "Oh...yeah. Well, Hinata says she's fine, so let's get going."

Naruto matched her pace while the others went ahead.

"Hinata...when that man called you _Byakugan Princess_ , what do you think he meant?" he whispered.

Her mind was still reeling from the bizarre vision.

"Hinata? Earth to Hinata?" Naruto placed his hands on her shoulders. "Are you really okay? Do you want to rest for a bit?"

"I told you, I'm _fine_ , Naruto-kun," she reassured. "Don't worry about me; just focus on the mission."

"But protecting you is part of my mission too," he argued. "That's why we're paired together. I said I would never let you out of my sight, remember?"

"Well, I _am_ fine. If something's wrong, I'll tell you."

"Promise?" he said, holding out his fist like in that genjutsu dream.

She rapped her knuckles against his.

"Promise."

* * *

Sakura suggested that they just camp out in one of the abandoned buildings overnight, to which everyone gratefully agreed. All were exhausted, and it was a far better option than searching for a remote spot of forest.

Hinata settled into a corner of a room, stitching up the scarf. Almost done. She was almost done. Just a few more rows.

"Hinata? What did you want to say earlier?"

Her lips drew into a thin line. Her fingers paused. She wanted to stop thinking about that, and Naruto brought it up when she least expected it.

"About what Toneri's puppet said?"

She went back to business. "Oh...that? It's nothing."

"Huh? I don't get it. What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"I'm sorry, but...please leave me alone."

He just kept staring and staring in that incredibly odd expression of concern.

"Okay, then." He slowly left the room.

Her eyes burned as her thoughts went back to Naruto's trusting smile as she returned his fist bump. She was already breaking her promise.

* * *

The tantalizing feeling of happiness that she had taken to feeling around Naruto for the past few days had evaporated into thin air. Otsutsuki Hamura's words hung over her head like a sword. A world-saving mission that only she could carry out.

She had no idea how to describe her mission to her teammates, or what she and her teammates would do even if she _could_ describe it to them. Did she have to do it all alone?

A sense of claustrophobia boxed her mind.

She and Naruto walked through ruined villages in tense silence. Naruto was making good on his word to never let her out of his sight.

He watched her even as she stared off into the horizon of the sunset sky.

* * *

Glowing butterflies illuminated the night sky as Hinata sat next to a deep pond. The scarf was completely mended.

The usual mental rhythm in her head as she would knit had been replaced with endless repetitions of _"That depends on your answer, Byakugan Princess"_ and _"Listen, Byakugan Princess. Don't allow the world that my elder brother created come to an end."_

Tenseigan, Byakugan, Otsutsuki.

What exactly was the Tenseigan? Was it a rare doujutsu like the Rinnegan? How destructive was it? _How was she supposed to stop it and rescue Hanabi?_

Why did Otsutsuki Hamura think _she_ was suitable for this task? Didn't he know that she was the former disgrace of the Hyuuga clan? She was surpassed in the Gentle Fist art by Neji nii-san and Hanabi, even at the age of five.

She couldn't save Neji nii-san and she couldn't save Hanabi.

She couldn't even keep a scarf intact. Or tell Naruto her feelings.

"...Hinata?"

Only when she thought about him did he have to appear.

She couldn't bring herself to meet Naruto's eyes. She knew what he was thinking.

"I'm a terrible big sister, aren't I? My little sister is in danger and here I am knitting."

"That's not true!" Naruto said vehemently. "You came all the way here just to rescue Hanabi!"

Guilt gnawed at her stomach. "I should have stayed home that night."

"Don't worry! I promise that I'll rescue Hanabi for sure!"

That was so like Naruto, taking it upon himself to fix the mistakes of others.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun. You're very kind."

Just as Sai would say, it was one of the things she loved about him…

"I'm not being kind just because I love you...I'm worried about Hanabi too," he said awkwardly while scratching his head.

_What?_

_Seriously, what?_

She shot to her feet. "What did you say?" she asked.

"Huh?"

Did she just hallucinate or something? Did her mind suffer a break from reality?

" _What did you just say?"_

"Um...I'm worried about Hanabi," he said.

"Before that," she whispered.

"Before that…?" he repeated.

There was a long silence.

"Hinata," Naruto said earnestly. "I love you."


	18. Infiltration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this chapter is pretty much just following movie events...but next chapter will be the last one like that, then we'll be back to my own original chapters. :)

They stared at each other in silence.

"Hinata?"

The water of the pond rippled and the glowing butterflies fled. A round hovercraft descended to the ground.

It was _him_.

"Toneri!" Naruto yelled. "Or are you just another puppet?"

Toneri said nothing.

"Where's Hanabi?" Naruto yelled again.

Toneri opened his eyes. They were crystal clear and shining with a strange light.

"Be quiet. I've come for Hinata's answer."

In a split second, Hinata knew what she had to do. To save Hanabi and destroy the Tenseigan, she had to...

"Answer? Hinata has nothing to do with you! Tell us where Hanabi is!"

Hinata stepped in front of Naruto and pushed the scarf into his arms.

"Hinata?"

She walked to Toneri.

"Hinata? What's going on?"

"Naruto-kun, farewell," she said.

A pang of guilt and sadness stabbed at her stomach as she remembered her promise to Naruto.

Why did he have to tell her _now_?

This wasn't her ninja way. She was going back on her word for the first time in her life. And she was rejecting the love of her life.

Toneri wrapped an arm around her. His embrace felt like ice and she felt her body shudder.

They were flying away. She couldn't bear to look at Naruto.

"Hinata!"

He was chasing after them. _Why?_ She had to do this alone.

Sai's ink birds and a barrage of exploding notes flew into the night sky.

"Give Hinata back!" Naruto shouted.

"Give her back?" said Toneri. "But Hinata came here of her own will. It's been destined since ancient times. She and I shall be married."

Naruto's hand glowed with a Rasengan.

"You'll be married? Hinata, he's lying, isn't he?"

She tried to kill her feelings and strengthen her resolve like a good ninja. It was just temporary. She was just infiltrating Toneri's layer to stop him. When she succeeded and saved Hanabi, she would come back to him.

Toneri fired a green projectile at Naruto, colliding with his Rasengan.

He became engulfed in an orb of light and fell as a fiery explosion lit the sky.

Only a gaping chasm stood where Naruto was.

"What are you _doing_?" she snapped at Toneri.

"I don't want you to get hurt in a silly fight like this," he said.

The glowing orb in his hand vanished along with her consciousness.

The last thing she saw before sleep overtook her was the scarf burning to a crisp...and Naruto plummeting to the ground.

* * *

" _Naruto-kun, all this time, I've only been staring at your back. But from now on, I...I want to be by your side. And that's why...I've put my whole heart into knitting this." She held out her wrapped present and bowed deeply. "Please accept my feelings!"_

 _This was so_ _much harder than when she'd told him that she loved him on that day two years ago. She wasn't exactly looking to start any relationship with him at that time. Back then, she fully expected to die. She went in to protect Naruto from Pain and she only meant to explain why to the person who changed her whole world._

_Except...she didn't die. And now here she was._

_Hanabi's words had kept ringing in her ears for the past so many months, always infiltrating her mind when she least expected it._

"Don't you want to be special to him, nee-sama?"

_Just like that time with Pain, she had to do this, if only for her self-satisfaction._

_She could squeeze in a few more rehearsals, right?_

" _Okay, once more," she said determinedly. "Naruto-kun..."_

" _Hinata?"_

 _He...was back already? Did he_ hear _her? She turned around slowly._

" _Good...evening," she squeaked._

_Naruto chuckled. "We just saw each other at Ichiraku, didn't we?"_

" _Oh, that's right."_

_The green scarf around his neck only made Hinata more determined._

" _Naruto-kun, the truth is...I have something to give you."_

" _Yeah?"_

_She pushed the gift into his accepting hands and..._

She woke up in a massive bedroom.

"Where am I?"

Hinata looked through the massive stained glass window. Her infiltration into Toneri's castle was successful.

Time to find Hanabi. It wasn't a difficult task once she turned on her Byakugan. She found that Hanabi was asleep in an identical room. White bandages were wrapped around her forehead.

Her eyes were removed.

Uncharacteristic rage coursed through her veins. How _dare_ this vile monster?

Then the atmosphere distorted and the passageway to the underground world materialized around her. She knew from years of training with Kurenai-sensei that this was a genjutsu.

It seemed as though Toneri preferred communicating with people through illusions and puppets rather than face-to-face.

* * *

"Let's get married, Hinata," Toneri said.

"What? _Married?_ Let go of Hanabi right now!"

The vision shifted back into the room inside the castle. But it looked hazy and distant.

"Your little sister is in my castle."

A second, incorporeal Toneri arrived at the scene.

"And as for her Byakugan," he said. "They're mine now."

" _Monster,"_ said Hinata coldly.

"Please forgive me," Toneri said. "I'm doing it for Hamura's celestial decree."

"Hamura?"

The familiar image of a pale, white-haired man with two horns appeared, as though Toneri was showing her a movie.

"Otsutsuki Hamura," explained Toneri. "The founder of the moon shinobi, also known as the younger brother of the Sage of Six Paths, who was the founder of the Earth shinobi.

"The Hyuuga are the descendants of Hamura. It's a thousand year old story."

She saw another man who looked remarkably like an older, bearded version of Hamura.

"The Sage of Six Paths had many misgivings. He feared that the Ten Tails, possessed of immeasurable chakra and power, would wreak havoc upon Earth. So he extracted and divided the chakra of Ten Tails and gave it to the nine bijuu, so that the Ten Tails would be weakened. The Ten Tails' empty shell – the Gedo Statue – was sealed and hidden in the moon to prevent Ten Tails from being reborn."

Yes, she knew all of this already. The Allied Shinobi fought the Ten Tails, after all.

"Hamura lived on the moon to protect the Gedo Statue. The Sage of Six Paths became the founder of Earth shinobi, but Hamura had doubts about that world."

An aged Hamura lay on his deathbed, surrounded by his children and grandchildren.

"If the world of his elder brother went off the path of the shinobi way, Hamura asked his descendants to destroy it."

Visions of war and bloodshed filled Hinata's mind.

"Shinobi fighting has only increased in the millennia gone by," Toneri said. "Ninja keep using chakra as a weapon. The Gedo Statue was stolen and Ten Tails was revived.

"Our clan has ascertained that Earth shinobi will destroy any chance of world peace. The world of the Sage of Six Paths' creation has failed."

They were back in the castle.

"And now, by Hamura's celestial decree, I will destroy the world," Toneri finished.

Hanabi's eyes – its pupils glowing with eerie blue light – stared back at her from this lunatic's head.

"When this pure Byakugan aligns with my own chakra, it will become a Tenseigan. With the power of my eyes, I will lift Earth from ashes and bring about its rebirth!"

"I don't believe you!" Hinata yelled. "I _will_ save Hanabi."

"How can you?" asked Toneri. "You don't know where this castle is."

She was back in the passageway again. The deja vu feeling was too much.

"...I'll need your answer."

She retraced her fighting stance, only for Naruto to arrive again with a shout of "Hinata!"

* * *

Hinata stood at Hanabi's side.

"Good morning," Toneri greeted.

She tried not to think about Naruto saying that to her just one or two days ago.

"I'm so happy," he said with a smile, "that you understand my feelings, Hinata."

* * *

Now that Toneri seemed to believe that Hinata was on his side, he gave her a tour of his castle.

The plain tatami mat flooring and modest garden of the Hyuuga compound was nothing compared to the lavish walls, staircases, and rooms in this castle. It seemed bigger than the whole Leaf Village. But at least her house wasn't void of human life or staffed by puppets robotically wishing her a good day. The sheer size of the echoing castle was overwhelming and filled her with a sense of loneliness and foreboding.

She almost felt sorry for Toneri when he told her that he had been living alone ever since his father died, but she had more pressing worries.

He led her to a huge room with ornate green walls, decorated with triangle-shaped mountings, and with hourglasses flanking what appeared to be an inner chamber.

"The wedding ceremony will take place here," Toneri said. "And then we'll enter the rebirth room and go into a deep sleep until Earth stabilizes after destruction."

"Impossible! Won't the moon also be destroyed?"

"Don't worry. The castle is protected by a very powerful chakra," he said in what he evidently presumed to be a reassuring voice.

Her ears perked up. "Powerful chakra?"

"Yes. Strong enough to move the moon."

That _had_ to be the Tenseigan!

"What do you mean?" asked Hinata.

"The Otsutsuki treasure's power, honed by my clan's suffering," he said, leading her outside.

"Where...is this treasure?" She tried to keep her voice even.

He stopped. "Well…I can't tell you."

This was bad. She had to find and destroy the treasure. In the meantime, she had to bide her time and play nice.

"Can I return to my room, please?" she asked, feigning innocence and cordiality. "It's very cold."

"It's cold because it's always dusk here. And before I forget...will you knit me a scarf?"

"Huh?"

"Please make a scarf just for me." He stared at her with an inscrutable expression. "You won't?"

"If you wish," she finally said.

"Really?" He brightened up immediately. "Thank you. I'm very happy, Hinata."

Then Toneri gasped and clutched his face in apparent pain.

"What's wrong?"

He straightened and removed his hand from Hanabi's eyes.

"It's nothing. Don't worry. It only means that the Byakugan is transforming into the Tenseigan," he explained, before his hand flew back up to massage the eyes. "It will be fine if I rest."

Was his Tenseigan different from the Tenseigan that had wiped out the Otsutsuki Main Family? In that image, it appeared to be a glowing orb of light. She had to get to the bottom of this.

As he walked away, Hinata clandestinely turned on her Byakugan.

_It doesn't seem like the treasure is here._

* * *

Over the next few days, Hinata searched throughout the castle as discreetly as possible, looking for any sign of the mysterious Tenseigan weapon.

Discreetness that Toneri seemed to be deliberately trying to spoil, judging by how he kept asking her to have tea with him, engaging her in small talk about Earth's weather, or asking her when she would have finished knitting the scarf for him.

She finally made it back to Hanabi's room to check in on her condition.

Her little sister, though unconscious, clutched Hinata's hand like it was a lifeline.

"Hanabi, you poor thing."

Hinata's eyes welled with tears.

 _I will find and destroy the Tenseigan_ , she vowed.

One of the puppet servants entered the room.

"Hinata-sama, it's time for dinner," she said in a mechanical voice, bowing deeply.

* * *

"Meals are so much nicer when you have company," said Toneri pleasantly.

The dining table was incredibly long and covered with a fine silk tablecloth. Two massive candelabras stood at the center of the table and the puppet servants had prepared sumptuous dishes that she couldn't name, but were obviously high class. There was never anything like this in Konoha.

Hinata thought longingly of sharing overcooked ramen with Naruto.

"Please tell me all about yourself."

She almost snorted. She had no idea how or why Toneri had taken a liking to her when he didn't even know her. Did he want to know her favorite color or hobbies?

She finally brought the topic onto the more pressing issue at hand: "It's not too late to negotiate with the Earth shinobi."

He gave her a blank look. "What?"

"You're right. For a long time, Earth shinobi used chakra to settle fights. But now it's different. Shinobi have united and work together to protect our peace!"

He smiled in a benevolently condescending way. "They will just start another war. The world created by the Sage of Six Paths must be destroyed," he said.

"Please – "

He slammed his glass onto the table and scowled.

"Never talk to me about this again! Just be quiet and eat."

What a nasty person. Hinata reminded herself that this was just temporary as she stared out of the window. A large chunk of rock was passing by the castle.

"An island?" she asked.

"That's Hamura's temple," Toneri said. "Once a year, during the Rebirth Festival, it comes close to the castle."

Every instinct honed during her seven years as a ninja was on red alert.

She gulped down the minimal amount of food required to be polite and quickly excused herself, saying that she needed to work on the scarf.

* * *

Her Byakugan's power had drastically increased during and after the war. She could clearly see a source of massive energy – the Tenseigan – inside the temple of Hamura.

She quickly deactivated her Byakugan when she felt Toneri's chakra from a distance away, long before he could actually sense what she was doing.

She pasted a cordial smile on her face as he came to meet her.

"Good evening, Hinata," he said.

"Good evening, Toneri."

Evidently his arrogant refusal to reconsider destroying the world was water under the bridge.

"Toneri..." she began.

"What is it?"

"May I pay my respects to our ancestor Hamura? It's been on my mind for a while," she requested.

"Of course," he said warmly.

* * *

"I'm sure Hamura is very pleased that you want to pay your respects to him," Toneri said.

Gloomy stone walls were illuminated only by the lamps carried by the puppets escorting them to the temple.

Hinata fought in vain to control her heartbeat.

_I'm certain that the Tenseigan is here._

The narrow pathway led to a huge open space. An orb encased by a sun insignia shell was suspended in the air.

"Is...that...?"

"Yes, it's the Tenseigan."

"The Otsutsuki treasure that moves the moon?" she asked.

Toneri said nothing. Surprisingly, it was a puppet servant who spoke up.

"Hinata-sama," she clarified, "only high-ranking Otsutsuki members can see the real Tenseigan. This temple is where lower-rank clan members worship."

"I see." She managed to hide her disappointment in stoicism.

* * *

"I'll show you the real Tenseigan after we're married."

They were on the way back to the castle, flying on Toneri's strange hovercraft device. They passed by a stone shaped like a crescent moon, with an orb in the middle of its empty groove.

She activated her Byakugan, finding that her vision was once again distorted whenever she focused on the orb.

_Of course, that was it!_

* * *

Toneri sat across from her as she knitted the scarf. He had a content smile on his face as he sipped some tea.

Once again, he spasmed and he clutched at his face.

She paused her knitting as he rose and walked away.

"I'm going to rest in my room. I'm looking forward to seeing the scarf when it's finished."

The scarf…

She'd put her heart and soul into the first scarf. Only for it to get burnt to cinders.

She'd devastated Naruto by rejecting him too.

This scarf...if Naruto accepted even a torn scrap of this scarf...Hinata would die satisfied.

She left the room, vowing to give it to Naruto.

* * *

No puppets obstructed her path as she raced towards the Tenseigan.

The half-circled shaped pathway was lit with spheres of red light and opened into a vast void.

Hinata jumped onto a supporting beam as she beheld the weapon of the Otsutsuki.

"This is it. The Tenseigan."

It was as bright as the sun, glowing like a supermassive Rasengan with a geometric, snowflake-shaped design in the center.

She took on her jyuuken fighting stance, ready to strike. A wave of determination not unlike what she felt during the war surged through her.

_I will stop the moon!_

Then a group of Toneri's puppets descended on her.

She fought them off with the lithe, graceful movements that she'd practiced with Neji nii-san. Just as she was about to land a finishing blow on one of them, her hand was stopped by an invisible force.

She was dragged back into Toneri's crushing grip.

"What is going on?" he asked coldly.

She struggled to free herself. "You're absolutely wrong about this."

" _What?"_

"The soul of Hamura has entrusted me with the real celestial decree. You've completely misinterpreted his teachings. Hamura never wished for the destruction of the world of the Sage of Six Paths!"

"You have betrayed me."

One of the puppets seized her and sealed the movement of her hands with those green spheres.

"Listen to me! Hamura..." she yelled as she was marched away.

"Silence!" snapped Toneri. "I won't believe such lies. Hamura only made one celestial decree and it was to end the Sage's world!"

They had reached the room where Hinata had kept the finished scarf. Toneri snatched it up in a rage.

"Damn it, you knitted this for him and not for me, right?"

It was torn to shreds in his palm.

Another green orb materialized in his hand.

"I'll make sure you can never betray me again!"


	19. I'll Cherish It Forever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter covering the Last movie. I hope I did the alternate POV of the movie thing well! Please do share your thoughts! :)
> 
> Next two chapters will be the last. :)

Her mind was trapped in an abyss from which she could not rise up.

She had no idea what was going on in the outside world, but she knew she wasn't dreaming. She had full consciousness.

She wished that she was stuck in the Infinite Tsukuyomi again. False peace was better than a real nightmare.

She tried to anchor her thoughts to something, anything, to avoid going mad.

Was there real peace somewhere?

If there was such a thing as true peace in the world, she would definitely seize it. Naruto told her that quote was found in Jiraiya-sama's first novel, _The Tale of a Gutsy Ninja_.

Naruto? What was he doing now?

She didn't think he would ever give up on the mission. It wasn't his ninja way, or her ninja way, either.

Did her feelings reach him?

All that time agonizing over how to tell him of her feelings, and he beat her to the punch.

If their situations were reversed, she would move the Earth and moon to search for him. Maybe...maybe he would come and search for her. She corrected herself. He _would_ come and search for her.

His tone was dead serious when he told her, "I love you."

Naruto never gave up on the people he loved.

When this mission was over, she would beat him to the punch.

Then, maybe, they could seize true peace together?

" _Hinata?"_

Who was that?

" _Hinata!"_

Wasn't she trapped in the prison of her mind? How was Naruto's voice reaching her?

* * *

Her eyes opened to see Toneri in front of her, holding a green orb.

"It's too soon for you to wake up," he said. Then his Tenseigan "growing pains" hit again and his grip on her slackened. He crumpled to his knees.

"Is this the last phase?" he rambled.

She took the opportunity to make her escape.

Her heart vaulted into her ribs in joy.

"Naruto-kun!"

"Hinata!" Naruto staggered to his feet and walked towards her.

"Naruto-kun, I'm sorry. I just..."

"I understand," he said. "Don't say that. If anything, I'm the one who's sorry. What about him?"

Toneri was still on the ground, writhing in pain.

"Now's our chance to destroy the Tenseigan!" she said, sprinting towards the exit.

"Tenseigan?"

* * *

She didn't have to keep looking over her shoulder this time. Someone had her back.

"If we destroy this," she explained, "we can stop the moon from advancing."

"Gotcha!" Naruto said, confidently palming his fist. "I'll use Rasengan."

"You can't."

He looked at her quizzically.

"A curse has been cast on the eye. Only someone of Hamura's blood can touch it, or their chakra will be extracted."

"What?"

She stepped forwards. Her hands became cloaked in lion shrouds – it seemed that receiving Hamura's chakra had turned them purple instead of their original blue.

"Eight Trigrams Twin Lions Crumbling Attack!" she yelled, striking with all of her might.

The Tenseigan crackled with blue sparks for several moments, then stabilized.

"I can't destroy it!"

Naruto grabbed her hand. "Hinata, we need to infuse chakra together!"

"What?"

"We could destroy it together," he said.

She didn't have nearly as much chakra as Naruto, but he couldn't touch the Tenseigan. Neither could do it separately. But together...Hinata's face brightened and she nodded.

Their combined chakra swirled together in an eclectic mix of purple and orange. It was just like that time in the war.

Naruto's hand was big and warm. Her confidence surged despite the insurmountable odds.

"Let's go!" said Naruto.

"Okay!"

They struck together, his Rasengan enveloped with her Lion Fist.

The Tenseigan didn't stand a chance. Hundreds – thousands? – of white eyes sprang free.

The Tenseigan...was a cluster of Byakugan?

* * *

They met up with Shikamaru at the castle. Evidently, he had finished off the puppet army.

"Hinata? Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "I'm sorry." Shikamaru was the team leader and she ran off without even telling him what she was planning.

They must have all been worried sick.

"Let's save that for later," he said, turning to Naruto. "What happened anyway? The artificial sun just disappeared."

"This place was powered by the Tenseigan," Naruto said. "We destroyed it, so the moon should have stopped moving too."

" _What?"_

Shikamaru checked the timer in his palm, and sure enough, the clock had stopped.

* * *

They met up with Sakura and Sai in one of the castle chambers.

Defeated puppets lay on the floor, completely lifeless. And in Sai's arms was…

"Hanabi!"

Hinata bowed to Sakura and Sai. "Thank you."

Sakura held out a scrap of the tattered red scarf.

"Isn't this yours?" she asked.

Hinata stared at the hours of painstaking labor in her hands, ripped to shreds by Toneri's thoughtless cruelty.

For the first time since being freed from Toneri's control, she realized that she was wearing a strange black wedding dress. Her blood curdled at the idea of what might have happened if his plan had succeeded. She would have been married against her will and…

Only bad thoughts lay in that direction. She comforted herself with the thought that his plan had zero chance of success. Not while her Konoha teammates were alive. They would have stopped Toneri even at the cost of life and limb.

To her surprise, Naruto spoke up. "Is that the scarf that Toneri ripped up before?"

"How do you know that?"

Naruto stared at the floor. "Back when I pulled Toneri's jutsu out of your body. I saw some memories of yours..."

"Didn't you want to give it to Naruto?" Sakura asked.

A heavy silence followed.

"Did you really make it for me?" asked Naruto, turning to meet Hinata's eyes.

"Yes," she mumbled.

"Can I have it?"

"But...it's ripped to pieces."

"I don't care about that...I mean, I'd still like it," Naruto said firmly.

She stared at tiny scrap of scarlet cloth, the only remaining proof of the depth of her love.

Then she handed it to Naruto. He accepted it reverently.

"Thank you so much." Naruto stared at her softly – lovingly? "I'll cherish it forever."

"Naruto-kun..."

She wept with joy.

Here she was on the falling moon, spending possibly the last day of her life with Naruto.

It was true happiness.

* * *

Then the clock embedded in Shikamaru's hand started ticking.

"Why's the clock moving again?" Naruto asked frantically.

"I don't know!"

An explosion knocked them off their feet.

"What's..." Sakura muttered.

A massive statue swung its hand towards them. Naruto grabbed Hinata and jumped out of the way.

The statue was of...Hamura. Was this Toneri's doing?

Naruto switched on his Bijuu Mode, glowing gold and causing Hinata to squeeze her eyes shut. The team escaped on Sai's ink birds as the Kyuubi engaged the Hamura statue in an intense fight.

Toneri pursued them on a bird of his own. He appeared livid.

He weaved a series of hand signs, and, just like Naruto, his body became cloaked in chakra; only it was green rather than gold. Was this an effect of his Tenseigan?

Black orbs materialized in front of Toneri, detonating and unleashing a gale-force wind on the rescue team.

"Silver Wheel Rebirth Explosion!"

Sai's ink birds were absolutely destroyed and they were all thrown into a free fall. Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand as the explosion sent them crash landing into the barren, pockmarked landscape of the moon.

The Kyuubi's battle with the Hamura statue raged on.

"Hinata, are you okay?" asked Naruto, struggling to his feet.

"Yeah," she said. However, just as she was getting up, another explosion knocked her off her feet.

She yelped as Toneri roughly grabbed her hair.

"Hinata belongs to me," he said gloatingly. "You can watch his last moments in there."

He threw Hinata into a cage that had materialized out of thin air.

"Hinata!"

The battle between Naruto and Toneri began.

* * *

They traded a barrage of attacks, green and orange chakra cloaks blitzing across the moon. Meanwhile, the Kyuubi still hadn't finished off the statue.

Hinata could barely keep up, but her heart froze in horror and she cried out as Naruto got caught in one of the explosions generated by Toneri, and a beam of orange light cut the moon in half.

A deathly silence descended on the scene.

"It's all over," Toneri declared.

"It's not over until I say so!"

A barrage of Shadow Clones attacked Toneri with superhuman ferocity. Toneri's beams of light and protective shield couldn't save him from the onslaught of the Rasengan Barrage.

Toneri was stunned by the blows he received, but recovered quickly.

"It's pointless. Give up," he snarled.

Naruto took the scarf fragment from his pocket.

"Like I'd ever give up! It takes time to knit a scarf, ya know? The deeper the feelings, the longer it takes!"

"This ends now!"

He fired an explosion towards Naruto, who charged forwards, undeterred.

"You can't decide that!" he roared. "Expressing your true feelings...it takes a lot of time!"

Their fists collided and Toneri was blown backwards.

"That's why I won't let it end here so easily!"

It was ironic that Naruto would win with just one punch, after Toneri declared that his fists would never reach him.

* * *

Naruto ran towards her. The cage had rapidly dissolved.

"Hinata!"

"You're okay!"

They shared a look, then glanced in Toneri's direction. She strode forwards.

"I'll be taking Hanabi's eyes back now," she said coldly.

She ripped the eyes out of his sockets as he screamed.

"You...dare…?"

" _Now_ it's over," Naruto said.

"Not...yet..." Toneri opened his eyelids.

A comet of purple light descended on Toneri.

"What...what are those things?"

His body was getting coated in a thick, gelatinous substance. He cackled madly.

"With these eyes, I'll finish everything!"

He looked like a deranged lunatic, slowly suffocating under the weight of a million white eyes. Despite everything he'd done, Hinata felt a twinge of pity.

Just then, the rest of the team found them.

"Naruto!"

"Hinata!"

Naruto gestured for them not to come closer.

"Toneri, stop! You don't have to follow your ancestors' misguided teachings anymore!" Hinata called out.

"Silence!" he snarled. "As the last Otsutsuki, I must fulfill Hamura's celestial decree!"

Another green sphere materialized in Toneri's hand, and Naruto fell to his knees as his chakra cloak suddenly faded.

"Naruto-kun!"

"My...chakra's being drained away."

The orange-gold Kyuubi chakra was pouring into Toneri's sphere.

Toneri still wasn't laying off with the evil cackles. "And now you feel the power of Hamura, strong enough to move the moon! You're finished, Naruto!"

Naruto...didn't have enough chakra, but she did. The reverse of what happened when they needed to destroy the Tenseigan.

She grabbed his hand and let her chakra flow into his body.

"Hinata?" Naruto asked.

Orange and purple chakra swirled around them for the second time that day.

"What are you doing?" Toneri asked.

"We won't let it end like this," said Naruto.

"But... _how_?"

"Hamura's chakra flows within me too." Hinata looked radiant, wreathed in purple light.

Naruto gripped her hand tightly. "It's time to stop."

Toneri had snapped. He was drowning in the Byakugan, screaming in an unhinged fashion as he prepared to fire another explosion.

" _The world of the Sage has fallen! I will destroy it with the light of justice!"_

The ground split open as his jutsu backfired completely.

He was floating off into space, devoured by the Byakugan that his clan had collected for centuries.

"What's happening?" Sakura asked.

"It's his jutsu," said Shikamaru. "It absorbed the energy of the sun and he's broken his chakra limit."

Toneri screamed in agony.

Naruto jumped upwards in Toneri's direction.

"Naruto-kun!"

"Naruto! It's too dangerous! Don't go there!"

Naruto lent Toneri a helping hand.

* * *

"Why...why would you go so far to help me? I'm your enemy," Toneri panted.

He had collapsed to his knees, totally devoid of any strength. Naruto had barely released him from the Byakugan bubble that he was slowly dissolving in.

"Yeah, yeah, Obito, Madara, Nagato. I've seen tons of people like you," Naruto said. "They all said the same thing. ' _The world is awful. We must burn it all down and start over, they would be the new peace and justice and all that.'_ It gets old after the first few times."

"What...are you talking about?"

"Anyway, we need to let Kakashi-sensei and everyone else know that we've completed the mission," Shikamaru cut in.

"How are we supposed to contact them all from up here?" asked Sai.

That was true. There was no way to communicate with anyone on Earth.

Enormous footfalls shook the ground. It was the Kyuubi. He was no longer glowing like a heavenly fox, but had reverted to his usual orange-brown color.

Naruto waved. "Yo, Kurama! Did you get rid of the statue?"

The fox winced. "Stop yelling so loudly, idiot. Do you want to destroy my eardrums?"

"Well, did you?"

"Yes," he growled. "Now what do we have to do?"

"I want you to write a message to Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled, totally ignoring Kurama's directive not to.

Kurama stared at Naruto blankly. "What?"

"WRITE A MESSAGE TO KAKASHI-SENSEI!"

"I TOLD YOU TO STOP YELLING, FOOL. I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME! _WHY_ DO YOU WANT ME TO WRITE LETTERS TO RANDOM PEOPLE? DO I LOOK LIKE A PROFESSIONAL CALLIGRAPHER TO YOU?"

Hinata giggled. How Naruto managed to get into a shouting match without even trying was beyond her.

"Kyuubi," Shikamaru said in a businesslike voice. "Naruto has a point. You, with your massive size, can easily carve in a message on the ground so that people on Earth can see and stop panicking about the moon."

Kurama twitched his ears.

"I guess that makes sense," he said. "Please donate your brain to Naruto. His skull is totally empty."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at the Kyuubi. The Kyuubi stuck his tongue out back, then scowled and started scratching a message out on the moon.

"Making me write characters," he muttered under his breath. "I'm not good at calligraphy."

* * *

"Before we leave," Hinata said. "Toneri, there's something I would like to show you. Everyone, please follow me."

"Okay." Naruto began swinging their intertwined hands together. "Where do you want to go?"

* * *

For once, Toneri looked deflated and sad. He'd completely lost all of the smug overconfidence that had characterized their previous interactions.

"This...this..."

"Soon after we arrived, the soul of Hamura guided me here," said Hinata.

Toneri gloomily sank to the floor.

"I...I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I will punish myself for all of my transgressions."

"Toneri," Hinata began. "I'm sure all the people of Earth would welcome you."

"I will remain here on the moon and atone for my crimes," he said solemnly.

"Toneri!" Naruto called out.

"Please come to Earth one day, Toneri," Hinata requested.

"I...swear that the moon shall never approach the Earth again."

Toneri rounded a corner and vanished from sight.

* * *

The journey home was sure to be easy. But before they started, an old doubt wormed its way to the forefront of Hinata's mind.

"Naruto-kun, I want to ask you something."

Was this another moment of deja vu? But their positions were reversed again. That had been happening a lot lately.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Your scarf..." Hinata said. "Who is it from?"

Naruto took it out of his bag. "This? It's from my mom. She made it a long time ago."

Embarrassment prickled her stomach as her mind conjured up an image of Naruto's mother swatting her head for jumping to stupid conclusions. _"You're wrong, ya know?"_

"Oh," said Hinata. "I'm so silly."

"Nee-samaaa," Hanabi complained. "How long are you going to just chit-chat? Forget it, I'm leaving."

"Hurry up!" Shikamaru called out. "The passageway is disintegrating."

"Let's get back to Earth," said Naruto.

"Okay."

They took off together, hand in hand.

* * *

"Hinata?"

"Yes?"

"Remember, back at the Academy when we were asked who we'd like to spend our last day on Earth with?"

Oh...that time. She'd written down Naruto's name back then.

"I couldn't think of anyone's name to write down. I didn't know who my parents were and I didn't have any friends."

They picked up speed, jumping from one lump of sand to another.

"But now, I know exactly who I'd choose. There's no doubt about it. It's you, Hinata. I want to be by your side forever, until I die."

That time when she faced off against Pain...her words to him back then rang in her mind.

" _I wanted to catch up with you and walk with you forever. I always wanted to be at your side."_

Her dream was the same as his. Sparkling tears spilled forth from her eyes.

"Naruto-kun..."

* * *

Her arms fit perfectly around him.

She would never let go.

They soared into the night sky together, propelled by the force of his Rasengan, and Hinata found herself staring into Naruto's eyes, illuminated by the moonlight.

* * *

"Hinata."

"Naruto-kun."

His hand gently caressed her cheek. She closed her eyes and tilted her face.

Their lips met for the first time ever.


	20. Wedding Planning

"Nii-san, just shut up! We're not delivering orange wedding invitations!"

"But orange is a cool color!"

" _Not for weddings."_

Hinata cleared her throat. Naruto and Hanabi totally ignored her.

"I didn't know that there was some kind of rule that wedding invitations aren't allowed to be orange."

"Don't you know how to read the air? No one sends out orange wedding invitations. It's tacky."

" _Orange isn't tacky!"_

"You two, please calm down..." Hinata pleaded.

"You're an idiot!"

"Hanabi, that's uncalled for – "

"Who are you calling an idiot, huh?"

"Naruto-kun, just ignore her – "

"Neon green wedding invitations are way tackier than orange!"

"QUIET."

Hanabi and Naruto both jumped in surprise and stared at her. Hinata blinked. She didn't know that she was even capable of being that loud.

" _I_ will be deciding which color the wedding invitations will be," she said. "Orange and neon green are not on the table."

She shot them a reproachful look. "Is that clear?"

Her little sister and her fiance nodded mutely.

"Good. Now, Hanabi, apologize for calling Naruto-kun an idiot."

"Sorry..." Hanabi muttered.

"Naruto-kun, don't pick fights with fifteen-year-old girls anymore."

"Okay..." Naruto grumbled.

Hinata sighed in relief.

Wedding planning sure was a pain.

* * *

Tsumugi oba-san swatted Naruto's fidgeting arms.

"Stop _shaking_ so much. How am I supposed to take your measurements like this?"

"Oba-chan, we've been doing this for two hours. How long does it take?"

Giichi oji-san spoke up. "Naruto. The tailor who makes the montsuki kimono is very particular. For our own wedding, he refused at the very last minute because the measurements were off by half a centimeter. We were desperate and had to beg him."

"Why couldn't you find another tailor?" Naruto grumbled.

"That man never forgives and never forgets," oba-chan said. "The Hyuuga have been availing his services since the Warring States Era and if we find another tailor now, during yours and Hinata-sama's wedding..." She shuddered.

"Why?" Naruto asked. "What would he do that's so bad?"

"We don't know and we don't want to find out," Tsumugi oba-san muttered.

"Ok...aaaay." Hinata's relatives were nice, but they were super weird at times.

Last week, Niko roamed around the village, announcing to random people on the street that the Hyuuga clan would have "the most awesome and coolest wedding of all time" and that all of the previous Hokage would be resurrected with Edo Tensei so that they could attend.

Hinata's dad and grandparents weren't happy about it, but Niko somehow avoided punishment anyway.

The Hyuuga clan were the strongest in Konoha. They were also the most insane.

Oba-san _finally_ finished taking his measurements and sent him away. Naruto sighed in relief.

Wedding planning sure was a pain.

* * *

"Today was a long day," Hinata said, sinking onto the park bench in exhaustion.

"You're telling me...what's up the Hyuuga clan's evil tailor?" Naruto asked, also sinking onto the park bench in exhaustion.

"He stuck needles into people's wedding kimonos, or something like that."

"Your clan really is crazy, ya know?" He idly ran his fingers over the scrap of red scarf that he'd pulled out of his pocket.

"Of course, _ya know_ ," she teased.

Naruto stared at the scarf.

"I was just thinking...that scarf you knit, it's like our red string of fate, ya know! Not that I believe in fate, or anything, but still..." he rambled on. "I think we're meant to be together. When I think about it, it's like what my mom said!"

"Your...mother?"

"Yeah. She had amazing, long hair. It was really beautiful, like yours, except her hair was red and some kids at the Academy would always make fun of her and call her a tomato and..." He paused momentarily to take a breath. "She would always beat up those bullies, but she hated her hair and then my dad saved her from being kidnapped and he said her hair was beautiful and then my mom was convinced that it was their red string of fate, ya know!"

She was much better at understanding Naruto's rambling than many of their friends, but this one was a bit tough to figure out, even for her.

"Naruto-kun," she said. "Please repeat that last part about the kidnapping."

"Kaa-chan was the Kyuubi jinchuuriki before I was..."

Hinata smiled. "So she wasn't really the Kyuubi's real form, but only the jinchuuriki. No wonder she got annoyed at you."

"That's right! I knew you would – " Naruto said. "Wait…how did you know that?"

She clapped her hand over her mouth.

Naruto squinted suspiciously at her. "I didn't tell you this story before, did I?"

"Oh, no, Naruto-kun," she said. "I completely forgot to tell you, but um...on the moon mission, when we got stuck in that genjutsu..."

"Yeah?" he prompted.

"I – I _think_ I saw your memories. I wasn't sure and I didn't know how to bring it up."

"You...saw my memories?" Naruto's ears turned red. "Don't tell me you saw something embarrassing…I mean, I think I saw _your_ memories too, but it was so embarrassing and I didn't want to say anything and – "

"You saw my memories too?"

"Yeah, I saw you during that time when Nagato attacked the village, then that time in the Academy when you wrote down my name, and you talking to Sakura-chan about me and stuff," Naruto said. "You only saw my memories of kaa-chan?"

"Yes..."

"Oh, okay, then!" He beamed. "So anyway, since my kaa-chan was the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, some ninja from Kumo tried to kidnap her to gain more power. They would have succeeded, but my tou-chan found her. She left behind strands of her hair on the ground as a trail, and he was the only one who noticed. Because he loved her hair."

He smiled, lost in those memories. "And that was their red string of fate."

"I see," Hinata said. "And the scarf is our red string of fate?"

"Yup."

A content silence descended upon them.

The bushes off in the corner of the park rustled.

"I think Hanabi is spying on us," Naruto said.

"Her, and possibly some of my other cousins too," Hinata agreed.

"Do you care, though?"

"No."

They glanced at the bushes in amusement, then went back to reclining on the park bench.

Naruto reached out to stroke her hair.

She leaned her head against his shoulder and smiled.


	21. A Beautiful Day With Oji-san

It was a beautiful day. The sky was a clear blue with only a few wispy clouds in sight. The sun smiled cheerfully down on the world. It was perfect in every respect.

"How are you, nii-san?" asked Hinata.

And then a family of four descended upon a spotless white grave engraved with the name "Hyuuga Neji."

Hinata was carrying a picnic blanket and a bento box in her arms, while Naruto struggled to contain the two children simultaneously riding on his shoulders.

"Oji-san, oji-san, it's me! We brought you flowers!" yelled the little girl with midnight black hair and sky blue eyes.

She jumped down from Naruto's shoulders while her older brother continued to stubbornly hold onto their dad.

"Boruto," Naruto said. "Come on, we're meeting Neji oji-san now."

"'M sleepy," he muttered.

"You can take a nap when we get home. Say hi to oji-san."

Boruto climbed down and squinted sleepily at the tombstone.

"Hi, oji-san."

He sat down and began playing with blades of grass as Hinata began to unpack the sumptuous meal. Boruto, never losing a chance to hug Hinata, abandoned the blades of grass and wrapped his chubby arms around his mother's legs. She smiled and ruffled his sunny blonde hair.

"I'm starving!" Himawari announced. "What did you make, Mama?"

"Herring soba."

"Not burgers?" asked Boruto.

"You should have made ramen instead," Naruto said in feigned sadness.

"But soba is a noodle, so it's close enough to ramen," Himawari pointed out.

Naruto looked scandalized. He grabbed her little shoulders and got down to her eye level.

"Himawari," he said in a ridiculously serious voice. " _Nothing_ is close enough to ramen. Ramen is a unique, one-of-a-kind dish that can't be compared to knock-offs like udon and soba."

Boruto groaned. "Not one of your ramen rants again. I'm sure oji-san doesn't like it when you say that soba is just a knock-off."

"He doesn't," Hinata said, smoothing out the picnic blanket. The sweet aroma of herring soba filled the air and a thin trail of drool was visibly sliding down Himawari's chin.

"Let's eat," Hinata announced.

She wafted incense over the herring soba, and then their picnic began.

"Why do we always bring herring soba whenever we come here?" Boruto asked.

"If we don't, Neji oji-san will get really angry that he can't taste his favorite food, and then he'll curse me by knocking down my ramen every day forever," Naruto explained.

Hinata shot Naruto a stern look. "Neji oji-san would do no such thing, Naruto-kun. He's always kind and patient. Don't slander him."

Her lips were switching, though.

"I'm not slandering him, it's true! The other day, I was in the store and some cup ramen fell off the shelves and onto my head," Naruto protested. "It was Neji. I know it was. It was because of that time I told you about his secret."

Hinata's cough sounded suspiciously like a laugh. Boruto and Himawari watched in confusion.

"What secret?" Himawari asked.

"I can't tell you," Naruto said. "Neji oji-san would be really mad. Don't underestimate the power of ghosts, Himawari."

"I think oji-san is a friendly ghost though," she said. "Right, onii-chan?"

"Hmmm?" Boruto looked up from the herring that he was busy mutilating. "Yeah! We have the same name, so he would like me, ya know?"

Hinata's eyes unexpectedly welled up. She couldn't bring herself to speak.

Naruto gave her a sideways glance. "Yeah, he does, Boruto. He loves you, ya know?"

"Me too, right, Papa?"

He leaned over and stroked Himawari's dark hair. "Yeah, you too. You're his sweet little Himawari-chan."

She leaned into his arms.

The gentle breeze caressed her hair.

It was a beautiful day. And the gentle breeze rekindled Hinata's old memories of Neji nii-san's smile and laugh. The annoyed tic bursting at his temple when Lee and Guy-sensei were being too "youthful." The frown of concentration he wore when deflecting all of the weapons that Tenten threw at him. The peaceful mornings of meditation and the cups of green tea she would share with him.

And as the family finished off the last of the herring soba, the presence of Neji became positively palpable; they could _feel_ him taking an appreciative whiff of the aroma.

Neji nii-san – Neji _oji-san_ – was still with them, watching over them with his smile.

* * *

They left a vase of sunflowers at his grave. It was only fitting, after all.

Sunflowers always face the sun.


End file.
